Warren Peace's Undoing
by Andrew's Slinky
Summary: Both with harsh fathers, both thought that they were long since dead inside. Both with destructive powers. Fire and Ice, Ying and Yang but whatever way you spin it the only way to keep from falling is to hold on, to each other.
1. Meetings and Findings

Sky High

Warren Peace's Undoing

Disclaimer: I only own Anna, and her family and the plot that is it, cheers.

Summary: Both with destructive powers, both with harsh fathers. Both are quiet and reserved, they keep to themselves at school, but both have extreme powers. Fire and ice, Ying and Yang, the best of both worlds. But whatever way you spin it, the only way to keep from falling is to hold on, to each other.

'Goodbye Warren.' His mother, Juanita Peace kissed his cheek as she ushered her seventeen-year-old son out the door to his first day of his junior year at Sky High.

'Bye Mom.' He replied as he kissed her temple and gave her a one armed hug before running out the door towards the bus.

'I'm going!' called Anna as she pulled her long brown hair away from her pretty face. No one answered her and Anna supposed that she should have been used to that by now, considering that she knew they didn't care, she wasn't sure why she half expected them to.

'Bye.' She whispered as she shut the door behind her. She headed down to the bus stop and could feel the tears building behind her eyes, she would never cry, though. This was her first day and she wanted it to be a good one, but things hardly ever went her way. She managed to blink back the tears just as the bus pulled up in front of her.

Warren looked up from his book as the bus made an unexpected stop. The girl that walked onto the bus was one that no one had seen before. She was devastatingly beautiful, her hair a long chestnut brown, her eyes a deep and clear sapphire blue. She wore dark, tight jeans and a black t-shirt layered over a blue long sleeve shirt that matched her eyes perfectly. Black converse, that looked rather beat up, encased her feet. She walked with an unknown confidence towards the back of the bus and sat in the empty seat across the aisle from Warren.

Warren watched her for a minute, taking in every detail, from the scuffed shoes on her feet to the perfect line of black eyeliner around her blue eyes. Then he went back to his book, his interest and curiosity satisfied.

Anna looked over at the boy reading and made an instant judgment, something that she was known famously for, she did not like him. She sighed before looking down at the chipped black polish on her fingers and decided that she'd have to pick up some more on her way home, if only to prolong the inevitable, that she would have to go home.

Warren felt her gaze on him but he refused to acknowledge her, he didn't know her. Now that he thought about it, he had never seen her in school before. Although, she looked too old to be a freshman, she looked his age. Maybe she was new? He was tempted to ask, but he did have an image to uphold.

'Miss Serona!' Principal Powers swooped in on the new girl before she'd taken two steps off the bus.

'Anna.' Murmured the girl in return.

'Anna, of course, why don't you come with me and we'll get you settled.'

Anna didn't respond. Principal Powers gave her a quick smile that wasn't returned.

'Right, c'mon.' she ushered Anna towards the school. Warren watched her leave and made the rash decisions that he was known for, he didn't like her.

'Hero or sidekick?' called Coach Boomer. Anna rolled her eyes, she did not care. She dodged the car that threatened to crush her, when Boomer turned to say something that Anna was sure was scathing she cut him off.

'Can I just show you, or are you intent on killing me?' she asked him with a savage politeness.

'Show me.' Replied Boomer.

Anna looked at him and then at the sea of freshmen in front of her. She sighed and blew her bangs out of her eyes before holding her hands out and freezing Boomer's legs in a solid block of ice. She let him stand there for a moment or two, but melted the ice back to water before he caught a cold.

'Hero.'

Anna walked to lunch, her eyes caught a small table in the corner and she sat there, by herself, just the way she liked it. She set her backpack before her on the table and pulled out her sketchpad. She flipped towards the middle, past the portraits of her old friends and of her younger sister, and the one of her mother that was as pristine as the woman herself, to a blank page. She pulled out her pencil and looked around for a good subject. Her eyes caught a girl that had pink streaks in her hair and she set to work, finding her subject something interesting.

'Will, who's that?' asked Zach as he caught the new girl's form crossing the cafeteria.

'Dunno. Never seen her before, but then again, Sky High is pretty big.' Replied Will as the pair sat next to their respective girlfriends.

'Boys, don't stare, it isn't nice.' Admonished Layla, Will's girlfriend, as she caught the boys' stares.

'How can we help it, she is absolutely gorgeous.' Replied Zach, oblivious to the fact that Magenta, his girlfriend, could hear him. She pinched his arm and glared at him and then at Will, but before she could say anything, which was sure to bring the two boys in a couple of notches, Warren interrupted.

'Who's gorgeous?' he asked as he sat down on his side of the table. He let the younger kids sit with him, truth be told he kind of enjoyed it, but he refused to let them sit near him.

'That girl over there, I've never seen her before.' Answered Zach, forgetting that such comments would get him pinched if he wasn't careful.

Warren followed the younger boy's gaze and did a small, almost unnoticeable, double take.

Layla and Magenta exchanged significant looks. Ever since Warren and Sophia Freeze had broken up over the summer, he'd been a little down. They'd been looking for a new girl for their friend and they liked the way he looked at the brunette in the corner.

'Do you know her Warren?' asked Layla subtly and Warren shook his head.

'Don't know her, but she's new, Principal Powers swooped in on her so fast I'm surprised that her head didn't spin.'

Warren watched the new girl for a moment before looking back at the two girls in front of him, who were smiling and giggling.

'What?' he asked them irritably.

'Nothing.' Replied Magenta as she shook her head. Layla let a real laugh escape her lips before she slapped a hand over her mouth and looked down at her lap. Magenta was barely able to contain herself when Layla lost it and Warren felt fire lick at his wrists.

'What?' he asked again and the two girls shook their heads simultaneously.

'Nothing, Warren I promise.' Answered Layla, and although she had stopped laughing her eyes gave her away. Warren rolled his eyes and looked down at the book in his lap. He was starting to get a little tired of the hippie.

Lunch was uneventful until a clatter of chairs was heard and a nightmare was realized. Principal Powers, in her infinite wisdom of pure stupidity, had allowed Lash and Speed, and Penny back in school after the Royal Pain incident and Lash was currently bothering the new girl.

He'd wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her over to him, her chair clattered to the floor behind her. Anna looked rather bored with the situation until Speed grabbed hold of her sketchpad and started to flip through it. Anna's eyes flashed and Speed was a block of ice before he could say anything. Lash opened his mouth to say something only to find Anna's fist in his face, and as he recoiled from the powerful punch, his nose bleeding freely, Anna turned scooped up her sketchpad and spun around once more, freezing Lash to the cafeteria floor.

She looked between the two blocks of ice and was intent on leaving them like that when Penny blocked her path back to her isolated table. Anna stopped before she ran into the girl, but Penny surrounded her with at least six copies of herself. Anna watched the ring of cheerleaders around her and sighed. She gently placed her sketchpad on the floor by her feet and turned to the original copy.

'What do you want?' her voice was low, and harsh.

'You shouldn't treat people that way.' Sing-songed Penny in answer. Anna's eyes flashed again.

'You should mind your own damn business, I wasn't bothering anyone, they started the whole damn thing and I'm sorry if I'm the only one with enough power to finish it.' Her voice was cool, but her face betrayed her obvious anger at the kids for not just leaving her alone. Didn't anyone understand that they were safer leaving her alone?

'Nasty little thing aren't you?' asked Penny. Anna rolled her eyes.

'I'll take that as a compliment.' and she froze two of Penny's clones. The other four, along with the original came at her all at once and Anna ducked low, avoiding the punches that came her way.

Warren watched her freeze Lash and Speed and smiled, maybe his first judgment was wrong, she had handled that better than he thought she would. When Penny surrounded her, his eyebrows flew up; seven against one was unfair odds. Who the hell did these people think they were?

He watched as the sophomores at his table all sat in quiet shock as Penny surrounded the new girl and Warren half stood, his hands catching flames. But Anna seemed to be able to handle herself rather well. She dodged the first couple of punches and froze two in her first move, then another two, leaving only three for her to take care of. She froze the last two clones, and everybody expected her to freeze the real Penny, but instead she pulled back an icy fist and sent the cheerleader through the window and onto the school grounds.

'Anyone else?' she asked very calmly, looking around the silent cafeteria. She sighed and unfroze Lash and Speed.

'Didn't think so.' She sat back at her table, sketchpad in hand. Her eyes were still flashing and Warren caught them with his own still on fire. A sparkle of electricity passed between the two but Anna looked away and Warren smirked as he extinguished the flames on his wrists and sat back down.

'Warren, what were you doing?' asked Layla, her eyes sparkling as she caught him in his original idea of going over to help the new girl with Penny before it became apparent that she could handle herself rather well.

'Nothing, hippie.' He replied as he picked his book back up and burrowed his nose in it until the bell rang to go to their next class. He watched the new girl out of the corner of his eye and committed every detail of her to memory as she headed to her next class, the students around her parting like the red sea, like they used to do for him until Homecoming last year. He still didn't like her.

Anna stalked to her last class, she was not happy and she didn't care who knew it. Principal Powers had completely chewed her out for defending herself and Anna had shouted herself hoarse trying to defend her actions. Principal Powers refused to acknowledge that Lash, Speed and Penny were hopeless cases and Anna was lucky to escape free of any real punishment.

She didn't open the door to Hero Terminology quietly, although class had already started.

'Hey, who are you?' asked the teacher, Mrs. Turner, obviously frazzled at the interruption. Anna tossed her the note from Principal Powers and calmly sat in the only empty seat, right next to Warren Peace.

'Sorry I'm late.' She deadpanned.

'Miss…' Mrs. Turner looked down at the note, 'Serona.'

'Anna.' Was the snapped reply.

'Anna, welcome to Sky High.'

No response.

'Why don't you stand up and say something about yourself.'

Anna's stoic face never changed and she cracked her gum loudly before answering.

'How bout I don't?' she said with a sickening sweetness that had the class fluttering for a moment before Mrs. Turner could get them to settle.

'Well, thank you for that Anna.' She was obviously not used to a student ignoring a request. 'Now back to…'

Anna stopped listening.

Warren watched as the door slammed open and in walked the beautiful new girl. He knew she was too old to be a freshman. As Mrs. Turner floundered at the interruption, the girls tossed her a note, pretended to be sorry for about half a second before sitting in the only empty seat, right next to him. Normally, someone invading his personal space would be enough to piss him off, but the fact that she did it without so much as a glance his way, that was just ridiculous. Kids were always afraid of him, and she didn't seem to be. And since he didn't know why he cared so damn much just added to his now pissy mood.

'Anna.'

Anna, he liked her name, it was pretty. His anger elevated as he realized that he was starting to sound like Stronghold.

Anna felt the air around her stiffen and then warm drastically. She looked over at the boy next to her, and instantly guessed his power.

'Hey, Pyro, cool power and all, but think you could take it down a notch or two, I'd rather not be sweating.' Her tone was polite, and not savagely so like when she had spoken to their teacher, but that just seemed to further his building rage and without meaning to his hands burst into flames and his desk caught on fire.

To his immense surprise, Anna didn't jump away with a scream, like he'd expected her to. She very calmly held out her hand and he watched in fascination, as his destructive flames became ice.

'Mr. Peace!' Mrs. Turner snapped.

Both his and Anna's heads snapped to attention.

'To Principal Powers' office!'

'But…'Anna started to defend him but Mrs. Turner cut her off.

'But nothing, to the Principal's office Mr. Peace.'

Warren was used to this, but that didn't stop him from slamming his books and his desk and finally the door as he left the room, fire licking at his palms. Anna watched him go in disbelief; he wasn't even going to try to defend himself.

'But…' she tried again.

'No more interruptions Miss Serona please go back to following in the book.' Snapped the teacher, but Anna wasn't backing down on this one.

'But he didn't…'

'Miss Serona, no more.'

'But you have to listen to…'

'To detention.'

Anna paused, her breathing heavy and blood still pounding in her ears.

'Excuse me?'

'To detention, Mr. Johnson, will you escort her there please?'

Johnson was a tall lanky boy with sandy hair and sharp grey eyes. Anna stood up in anger and slammed everything in her path as she followed her classmate out the door. They walked down the hallway in silence, Anna fuming and Johnson too scared of the beauty behind him to try and make conversation.

'Here.' He opened the door for her and Anna took in the all white room. Inside was Warren, who looked up in surprise. Anna walked in, slamming the door behind her, ignoring the fact that she almost took Johnson's nose off in the process.

'What are you doing in here?' asked Warren in surprise. Anna was slightly startled at the beauty and richness in his deep voice. She was quiet for a minute.

'Defending you.' She snapped when she had found her voice again.

'What?' he was still surprised and Anna made the completely correct assumption that he wasn't used to people caring about him.

'Defending you. I tried to tell that…that…woman it was an accident but she didn't want to hear it. Apparently she thinks that you just like to set desks on fire.' She said this all in one quick and slightly angry breath.

'What makes you think that it was an accident?' he asked her, his voice low. He had a reputation to uphold and she was tearing right through it.

'Please.' She rolled her eyes, ' I do not believe that you did it on purpose. When you have element powers like we do, emotions run high and control is difficult to manage.'

Warren stood and walked towards her, she took a step back for every step that he took towards her, until he had her pinned against the wall, his arms on either side of her head, boxing her in.

'You aren't afraid of me.' It was a statement.

'Not really.' She shrugged.

'Why?' a question.

'You aren't as scary as you'd like to think.'

He leaned in further and she gulped audibly.

'Sure about that?'

Anna found herself unable to breath when they locked eyes. She didn't know why she'd never noticed how gorgeous he was. Of course, she'd only seen him twice, but as it was, her brain could not come up with one reason why she hadn't noticed.

'Yeah.' She shook herself out of her fog, 'I'm pretty damn sure.' She quipped as she shoved him off of her.

Warren took a few steps back, his breathing a bit harsh, and fire itching at his palms for a completely different reason than anger.

'You okay?' she asked him when she caught the look on his face.

'Fine.' He managed as he returned to his book and his seat.

Anna seemed just as affected by their "showdown" and slid down the wall behind her, sitting, her knees tucked up to her chin.

'You okay?' he asked her.

'Fine.' She replied, but he didn't believe her anymore than she had believed him. She reached inside her backpack and pulled out her sketchpad and a pencil. He watched as she flipped towards the middle and then started sketching. She glanced up at him and raised an eyebrow in question. He sent a glare her way before looking back to the book in his hands, but he was no longer reading the words on the page before him. He could feel her sapphire eyes on him, but he refused to acknowledge her.

Anna would periodically look up at him to make sure her sketch was accurate. She couldn't do him justice, of that she was sure, but there was something about Warren Peace that captivated her. Something about him, his eyes, that made something stir deep within her stomach. She moved her pencil in smooth, sure and even strokes. His eyes took shape first and then the contours of his high cheekbones and firm mouth. As the picture took better shape she realized something. He had stopped turning pages in his book. She looked up only to lock gazes with him again and found that again, he stole her breath away. When she finally got it back she felt resentment rip through her chest. Who the hell did he think he was, to make all the walls she'd spent so long building just come crashing down so fast?

'What?' her annoyance shown through to her voice.

'Nothing.' He answered in the same tone and Anna rolled her eyes before going back to her sketch.

'What are you doing?' he asked her. She glanced up at him then back to the paper in front of her.

'Sketching.'

'Sketching what?' he wanted answers.

'Just sketching.' Was the curt reply and Warren was glad that the detention room neutralized powers; otherwise the desk he was currently at would have been ash.

'Just sketching what?' he asked her, not letting up.

'Well, right now it isn't finished. Maybe if you're a good boy I'll let you see it when it is.' Her answer was curt and dripping with sarcasm. Warren just glared in answer and Anna groaned.

'Whatever.' She rolled her eyes and went back to her sketch. Warren, in turn, went back to his book.

It had been a good hour of complete and uncomfortable silence. Anna had finished her sketch but wasn't happy with it and was trying to figure out what was wrong with it. It was her best portrait to date and it did look just like the real Warren Peace, but something about it was just wrong. Then she saw it, she hadn't capture his eyes, the beauty and deepness the small lick of flame that always existed in them. So with a sigh, she started erasing. While erasing she felt his gaze upon the top of her head. She looked up and for the third time he made it difficult for her to breathe. This time he held her gaze, she wanted to look down, look anywhere but at his gorgeous eyes, but she found it impossible for her to look anywhere else. She couldn't look away.

'Okay…' Principal Powers entered the room and both teenagers looked up in surprise. Sensing that she had interrupted something significant, but not exactly sure what she paused before continuing.

'Time to go, Miss Serona, not the best way to start your first day here.' Anna rolled her eyes and stalked out the door past her principal.

Warren watched her go, a pensive look on his face. When Principal Powers started in on him he hurried to his feet and out the door. He caught up to Anna in the hall, but she ignored him and he found that it didn't really bother him, this silence, unlike the one before, was comfortable. When they reached the bus that would take them home, neither said a thing as Anna entered first and took the same seat that she had that morning. Warren sat across the aisle from her, just like that morning.

The bus stopped for Anna and she got off, looking back only once to give Warren a smile so small and so fast that he wasn't sure if he'd imagined it or not.

Anna walked down the street, towards the corner store with a smile. She had a feeling that she was going to be causing some real trouble for Principal Powers, she did not like this woman in the least little bit and she did not care who knew it either.

'Anna, here for more nails polish?'

'Yes ma'am.' Replied Anna with a wide smile. She liked Yoko, the woman who ran the store just down the street from her new house and her sister, Kumiko, who owned the Paper Lantern, the local Chinese restaurant.

'Here, we just get new color.' Yoko reached behind her and pulled out a cherry red. 'It called Red Dragon.'

'Sorry, Yoko, it is absolutely gorgeous but I need some more black.'

Yoko clucked her tongue and shook her head.

'Girl this pretty should be wearing pretty color, not black all the time.'

Anna just smiled and shook her head, trading a five for the bottle of black polish.

'Keep the change, Yoko.'

'You come back soon.' Called Yoko after her as Anna headed back towards her house, waving a hand in goodbye.

She was half way to her house when she noticed that it seemed darker than it should be for her to have just gotten out of school. She looked down at her watch and saw that it was already five-thirty. With a strangled gasp she took off running down the street. She was so late, and in such deep trouble.

She tried her hardest to sneak in quietly and up the stairs, but when she passed the living room she heard him.

'Anna?' it was her dad. A fallen superhero, his name was Joshua Serona, also known as Star's Fire. He could control plasma, or had been able to but when Anna's mother died giving birth to her younger sister Charlotte, his powers just seemed to disappear.

'Hi Dad.'

'Don't hi Dad me, where the hell were you?' he asked her dangerously low and Anna slowly set down her things.

'At school Dad, I accidentally missed the bus, I'm sorry.' Her story made sense and for a second he seemed to buy it, but then he set the bottle of beer in his hand down and Anna swallowed hard.

'Your principal contacted me, you got into a fight and then got detention.'

'Yes sir.'

'And then you come in here and lie to me about why you're late? Do you have any idea how much you inconvenienced me?' he asked her and Anna shut her eyes for a moment and then her breath caught when she heard Charlotte come running down the stairs.

'Anna, Anna you're home!' she called happily, but paused on the last step when she saw her Dad's face. For being only seven years old Charlotte had a wonderful sense of what people were feeling, much like her mother before her.

'I had to pick Charlotte up and then I had to make dinner and I missed a very important phone call from Dan about a job that I could have gotten if you hadn't been so late.'

'I'm sorry.' Anna could feel the tears starting to build, but she kept them at bay, crying was weakness.

'You are not, you worthless little bitch.' He raised an arm and backhanded her. Anna lost her balance and tumbled to the hardwood beneath her.

'And look at this.' He bent down to scoop up her bag from the corner store. 'You certainly had enough time to go get more nail polish but not to take care of your worthless little sister. How interesting.'

'I like Anna's nail polish.' Charlotte piped up and Josh started to advance on her. Seeing her little sister in the line of fire Anna went into action.

'I shouldn't have to take care of her you're her father. It's your job you stupid, drunk son of a…'he didn't let her finish. He kicked her and she grunted in pain as she instinctively curled into the fetal position to protect herself. He continued to kick her and stomp her until she finally cried out in pain, and when she did he picked her up by the collar and beat her head against the wall until she lost consciousness. She tumbled to the floor, blood staining the wood beneath her.

'Go to bed Charlotte!' he barked and Charlotte did as she was told. She bolted up the stairs, her long blonde hair whipping around the corner.

Anna woke up and it was still dark, she was covered in blood, dry and otherwise. She looked down at her watch and saw that it was four in the morning. She sighed and tried to stand only to find that she was still too weak. She'd lost quite a lot of blood and it had seeped into the floor. She got to her knees and then stood wobbly, using the bloody wall behind her for support. She slowly made her way upstairs, her muscles screaming in protest.

She slipped into her room and turned on the light. She had to shut her eyes for a moment, but then she adjusted and looked at herself in her full-length mirror. She had a black eye and a scrape from her Dad's ring. Her brown hair was caked and matted with dry blood from where he'd hit her off the wall. She slowly lifted the hem of her shirt and was greeted with the sight of her completely black and blue, and slightly green and purple, ribs. She could see marks, cuts from his shoes and she felt the hot tears well up behind her eyes, constricting her throat.

She bit them back and reached for her wall to steady herself. When she'd calmed herself she slowly made her way into the bathroom, grabbing her robe and a towel from the linen closet.

She sat on the edge of the tub and turned the water on. She made it warm, not hot, and she put the pressure of the water on as low as it could be. She slowly stripped down and stepped beneath the spray. It took her an hour to wash all the blood out of her hair and off her body. She gingerly washed her face and brushed her teeth before heading back to her room and picking up more long sleeves and jeans. She couldn't risk even the littlest bit of a bruise showing. She hated makeup, but it was necessary now and she did her best to cover up the bruise, and did it rather well. If you hadn't known it was there in the first place, you wouldn't even see it. She got dressed and pulled her hair into a ponytail, and situated her bangs so that they fell in front of her bruised eye for extra protection. She sighed. She was getting way too good at covering her bruises.

She made her way back down the stairs and pulled out a bucket and scrub brush and some bleach. She scrubbed the floor as best she could and cleaned the wall completely. She sighed when she dried the floor and you could still see the rather dark stain. She pulled the area rug further into the corner and covered most of it up. She then took the bucket and scrub brush and cleaned them out well before putting them back. She dragged her backpack over to the table in the dining room and did what little homework she had. She looked down at her watch, it was almost seven. The bus came at seven-fifteen. She quickly put everything away, and double-checked her reflection in the mirror in the foyer. She couldn't really tell the bruise was there and she doubted that anyone was going to be looking hard enough to discover it, so she left the house, her ring of keys in hand. She got to the bus stop just as the yellow vehicle pulled up and she headed straight for the seat she had taken yesterday, across from Warren.

Warren watched as Anna came onto the bus. She was walking kind of slowly and gingerly, almost like she was in pain, and much like he did before he'd gotten complete control over his powers. She looked like she was hurt. She sat across from him again and he chanced a look at her. Her face looked different. He knew the look. It was the same look that his mother had when his dad had been arrested. Fear and happiness all at the same time. And a bruise, a bruise that was rather expertly covered with makeup and hidden by her bangs. Someone had hit her, and hard.

Warren's blood boiled at the very thought. This girl had captured his imagination even though he didn't like her. And the mere suggestion of someone beating her made him angry and he felt his flames lick at his palms before he could reign in his anger. Then a slightly happy thought crossed his mind. Save the Citizen was today and he could take out all of his anger on Speed and Lash, just like it was supposed to be.

Anna got off the bus and walked carefully to her first class. Even breathing was difficult for her and she was very careful not to jar her sides. She slowly sat in her seat and pulled out her notes and a pencil. She sat and waited for class to start, thankful that she sat alone at her table. All she needed was for someone to see her bruises and make them move, again.

The classroom slowly filled and Anna's eyebrows shot up in surprise when Warren entered the room. He wasn't in her class, of that she was sure, so why was he here? Him being there was going to distract her badly, she just knew it.

'Ah, Mr Peace, welcome.' Boomed Medulla, 'please take the empty seat next to Miss Serona…'

'Anna.' She hated the name Serona.

'Anna,' he relented, 'and we'll get started.'

Warren didn't respond and headed to the back of the room and sat right next to her in the only empty seat. He flashed her a grin and Anna's heart dropped somewhere to the vicinity of her knees. The only thing that managed to pierce the fog of her mind was that when Warren Peace smiled the whole world brightened.

She quickly reverted her gaze, well aware of where that train of thought could take her. She could sense the smirk on his lips and felt her blood boil. She didn't like him, she didn't. So why was it that her face felt flushed and she had icicles on the tips of her fingers?

She quickly put her hands in her lap and closed her eyes tightly. She concentrated only on getting her powers under control. This boy (man really, but she wasn't about to admit it, even to herself) got her frazzled. She hated being frazzled. She felt, rather than heard, him chuckle and that only serviced to piss her off more.

'What?' she hissed, and he flashed her another grin.

'Looks like I'm not the only one with control issues.'

She couldn't think of an answer and settled to glare at him. Her look softened a bit though when she saw the amusement in his eyes but she looked away when it turned to concern.

'What happened to your eye?' he asked her, and her stomach dropped dangerously fast.

'Nothing.'

'Liar, you have a bruise.'

She said nothing and prayed to whatever was up there that he'd drop it.

'Well?'

Someone up there hated her.

'Well, what? I'm fine.'

'Liar.'

'Shut up!'

He seemed to listen to her for a while until he looked at her and said, 'Are you okay?'

She felt the tears well up behind her eyes and furiously wiped them away.

'I'm fine.'

He didn't believe her and she knew that, but her prayer was answered and he dropped the subject.

She managed to make it through till lunch without incident and without jarring her sides, for which she was very thankful. She sat at her original table still without a lunch and pulled her sketchpad back out and her pencil. Her blue eyes searching the cafeteria for a new subject to sketch, she finally settled on a couple who were chatting in what she assumed were low voices.

Warren sat at his table and watched Anna out of the corner of his eye. (Actually he was full on staring at her, but he wasn't going to admit that) He was watching her for signs that she was going to break down and he was also checking for any more bruises.

'Warren what are you doing?' asked Layla as she sat down with her salad.

He didn't answer her, he was fascinated by the way her hands moved and the way she bit her lower lip when she drew. She was beautiful, and she captivated him in a way that he couldn't explain, even to himself.

'Warren?' demanded Layla and he turned to look at her.

'What is it hippie?'

'Who are you staring at?' she asked him and he shook his head.

'No one.'

Layla raised an eyebrow in challenge and then looked in the direction that he had been staring into.

'What is it with you guys and that new girl?'

'Her name's Anna.'

'Anna, what is your obsession with her?'

'I don't have an obsession hippie, I just wanna know that she's okay.' He added the last part without thinking and instantly regretted it when he saw Layla's entire face light up.

'You like her.'

'I do not.' He defended as he looked away from the excitable red head.

'Warren, you like her! Go talk to her.'

'No.'

'Why not?'

'She doesn't like me and I do not like her.'

Layla just continued to smile at him and she knew that it was bothering him.

'Stop it hippie.'

'Go talk to her! C'mon Warren, you can't be the unsociable wonder forever.' She replied and Warren knew that there was a truth to what she said but the part of him that still lived in the third grade responded with sticking his tongue out and saying "Can so!"

Layla seemed to know what was going on and just smirked knowingly at him and he glared at her.

'Shut it hippie.'

She took his warning and kept her mouth shut but kept on smirking at the hothead's discomfort. She knew that he felt something for this Anna girl, Warren tended to obsess over things and brood and brood about them until his face seemed to stick that way.

'Well, even if you don't like her, which it is obvious that you do, you keep staring at her like that and people are going to start to talk.'

Warren walked into Save the Citizen with a grim smile on his face. Lash and Speed were definitely playing today, they were Boomer's favorites, and they always chose him to battle, and that was the way he liked it. Lash and Speed were good opponents, even if everywhere else in life they were as dumb as stumps.

Just as he predicted Lash and Speed were playing the villains, and he was a hero against them and he waited without much interest in whom his partner was going to be until he heard the name.

'Anna Serona.'

His heart dropped somewhere to the vicinity of his knees and when he saw her face it dropped to his toes, he could tell that she had been hurt and it showed in the way she walked, she wasn't going to be much help in this fight but he also knew that Lash and Speed wouldn't give a damn especially since she had humiliated them in the cafeteria the other day. They were in for some major trouble, and he could tell that she knew it too.

She stood next to him, one arm wrapped protectively around her ribs even though she tried to make it seem like she could really care less.

Boomer gave them the go ahead and as Speed went to debilitate Warren, Lash grabbed a hold of Anna, and she resisted the urge to cry out when she felt his arm jerk much to forcefully against her bruised ribcage. Warren watched it all happen as Speed started his usual of running around him so fast that he started to choke from lack of oxygen, but this time Warren was prepared and managed to knock him out within seconds. He looked from Anna, who was struggling with Lash and obviously in no condition to win, and the dummy Citizen who was hanging over the mulcher, getting closer and closer to "dying." He made a split second decision and sent a large fireball at Lash, before turning and grabbing the Citizen. He landed gracefully on his feet just in time to see Lash release Anna, who tumbled unceremoniously to the floor and didn't move, as he tried his best to put out his sleeve, which had caught fire.

The buzzer sounded and Boomer announced them the winners as Warren jogged over to Anna and gently placed a hand under her elbow.

'You okay there, Ice Queen?' he asked as he helped her to stand.

'I'm fine.' She replied a bit more forcefully than she intended, but she couldn't risk Warren seeing too much.

'You sure?' he asked her in the same gentle voice and she nodded before looking up at him, and the instant she did she knew it was a mistake. They locked eyes and she lost what little control over her thoughts she had. He smiled gently at her, nothing like the 1000 watt smile he had given her earlier, but a smile none the less, but it disappeared off his face just as quickly as it had arrived when his dark brown eyes noticed her bruise and the scrape from her dad's ring.

'What happened?' he asked her as he ran a thumb over her bruise softly, barely grazing her skin. Anna tried to banish the goose bumps that shot up and down her spine as she jerked her head and her arm out of his grasp.

'I already told you, nothing.' And with that she spun on her heel and walked away from him, never looking back. Warren watched her walk away and promised himself that if he could prove the fact that someone was hurting her then he would do anything and everything within his power to help her.

Warren had been home for at least three hours but he hadn't left his room. He had come in the door and placed his backpack in the hall closet where his mother insist that he keep it and then had gone straight to his room. He had pretended to be asleep when his mother had come up to see if he wanted something to eat and to his immense relief she had just run her fingers through his hair, kissed his forehead and gone back downstairs. She was at her shift at the Paper Lantern right now and the only thing that Warren had managed to get done after she had left was that he had changed into a pair of soft, black sweatpants and tossed the rest of his clothes, including his shirt and socks into the dirty clothes hamper.

He'd been staring at his blood red walls for the past half an hour and he was no closer at figuring out a way to help Anna. He knew that it was ridiculous to assume that she was being beat at home, she could have very well gotten into a fight with someone in her neighborhood and gotten that black eye. Of course, if it had been that innocent then why would she have attempted to cover it with makeup? Maybe she was just ashamed that she had lost the fight. But then there were the bruises on her torso. He hadn't seen them, but he could tell from the way she walked that she had been hurt. He wanted to help her; he wanted that dead look in her eyes to change, to change to the beauty and the light that he had seen when they had been arguing in detention or the classroom.

Anna had gone straight home after school, in no mood for another beating. What she had found where two empty six packs of beer on the floor, her father passed out on the couch and blood on the carpet. Her heart stopped at the dark stain; if she wasn't home then that meant he had gotten to Charlotte. Anna had thrown herself up the stairs and, without knocking, had charged into her baby sister's room. Charlotte had been doing homework at her desk, and there wasn't one hair on her head that had been disturbed. Anna had fallen to her knees next to her sister's chair and thrown her arms around her.

'You okay, baby?' she asked gently and Charlotte giggled.

'Of course I am.'

'Good, how's the homework going?' Anna changed the subject as her heart started its normal pattern.

'Almost done.'

'That's my girl, what do you say to Chinese for dinner, my treat.' Suggested Anna and Charlotte squealed in agreement, the Paper Lantern was her favorite place in the world to eat.

'Okay, you finish that homework and I'll go out and get it, don't leave this room, you hear me?' warned Anna as she stopped at the door.

'Yeah.' Replied Charlotte knowing that if she woke up her father then he's be hung over and angry and there'd be more blood than his spilled.

Anna snuck past her father and out the door a few hours later after she had finished her own homework and started the ten-minute walk to the local Chinese restaurant.

Warren watched as the clock kept ticking and the numbers kept changing. His stomach growled loudly so he headed downstairs and opened the fridge. There was a carton of milk, and some baking soda. Apparently, his mother had forgotten to go to the store and Warren couldn't blame her, she had enough to deal with. So he sighed and trudged his way back up the stairs to change so he could head down the street to the Paper Lantern.

Anna opened the door to the relatively small Chinese restaurant and sighed as she noticed a familiar form at the counter talking to a woman that worked there. Anna straightened her back and headed over to the counter standing right next to the one person she had hoped she wouldn't be seeing any more that day, Warren Peace.

His eyes grew wide as he noticed who was standing next to him. Anna looked worn out and much older than she was.

'Hi, may I help you?' Warren's mother asked as she saw the new customer standing next to her son.

'Yes, my name is Anna Serona I'm here to pick up my order.' Replied Anna politely and Mrs. Peace excused herself to retrieve it, leaving the two teenagers in an awkward silence.

'Hi Anna.' Started Warren and he held his breath as her sapphire eyes locked on his dark brown ones.

'Hi.' She replied with a soft smile that Warren returned. His mother chose to come back at that exact moment and interrupted their little staring contest.

'Here you go.'

Anna smiled at the woman who looked like her son and took the bag and attempted to hand her the twenty in her hand, but Mrs. Peace shook her head.

'Kumiko says it's on the house.' She told her and Anna's eyes widened before filling with tears.

'Tell her thank you.' She replied and Juanita nodded. When she turned back to talking to her son Anna slipped her twenty into the tip jar that sat on the counter and Warren watched it all out of the corner of his eye with a smile.


	2. Rescues

Author's Note: Hey everybody, I was so humbled that a lot of you took the time to review and tell me that you liked my story, I'm feeling really good about it and can't wait to finish it. There may even be a sequel. But I suppose we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves. So I just wanted to say thank you to all of you and happy reading, keep reviewing. Without further ado, I give you Warren Peace's Undoing, chapter two.

Anna woke up the next morning with an incredible headache and she could sense the germs infiltrate her body. She was coming down with the flu, she could feel it, but her father wasn't exactly sympathetic at the moment so she got up for school anyway.

Joshua Serona had exploded at her when she'd come home with Chinese food, accusing her of stealing money from his wallet, she insisted that it was her money, but he hadn't believed her. She had braced herself, but he'd still knocked her against the wall pretty hard, stolen her bag of food and sent her to bed, after making her clean up the blood that had spattered against the wall when he'd opened up a cut on her bruised midsection.

Anna had done all that he'd asked obediently, and then had gone to bed without eating. Her stomach had growled at her angrily for at least an hour, yelling at her for not eating in the past couple of days. She ignored it, and cried herself to sleep, knowing that Charlotte had a stash of peanut butter crackers in her room for just such an occasion.

She slowly pulled her dark jeans on, trying not to bend over if she could help it. She'd chosen a button up shirt; she'd pull her cut if she raised her arms over her head, and stuck with her original sneakers. She walked slowly down the stairs, as quietly as she could so as not to wake her father and disappeared out the door to the bus, wishing that she'd thought to bring a jacket; her temperature was already lower than usual because of her powers and it made her much more susceptible to cold weather.

She stood at the bus stop shivering and thanked God when the bus finally showed, it wasn't much warmer inside, but it was enough of a difference that her goose bumps dissipated. She watched Warren out of the corner of her eye from her usual seat across from him and noticed that although he pretended to read his book, he was watching her as well, and every time their eyes locked she averted hers and pretended not to notice the fact that they were staring at each other. He didn't say anything either and didn't acknowledge the fact that their contrasting eyes locked on more than one occasion.

He watched her as she left the bus and he followed, he watched her in the hallways as she went to her locker and left immediately for first period, even though it didn't start for another fifteen minutes. He quickly finished at his locker, replied to Layla with a quick hello and headed to first period, intent on talking to Anna alone.

He entered the seemingly abandoned classroom to find her sitting in the back as usual, bent over her notebook, already copying the notes on the board, preparing for the class. Her head was down and Warren made sure to walk as quietly as he could. He set his backpack on his desk, right next to hers and she jumped none too subtly.

'Sorry.' He apologized as she looked up at him, annoyance and a bit of fear in her eyes. He did look truly sorry, but she didn't reply to him and instead returned to copying her notes, she was tired and wanted to sleep as much as possible in this class.

'Right, so apparently we've had an enormous fight and you've decided never to talk to me again.' He attempted to joke with her, and again she didn't respond to him, but he could swear that he saw a small smile curl on the corners of her lips before she turned away from him completely.

'So this is the silent treatment, huh? Cold.' He told her as though just catching on to the concept.

'I'm not giving you the silent treatment.' She told him softly.

'So, you can talk.' He pretended to sound surprised and he heard her chuckle for a moment before cutting off with a hiss of pain. He knew that her ribs were damaged.

'You okay?' he asked her and Anna was surprised at this new question, he had asked her that the first day she'd met him.

'Yes, I'm just fine.' She replied as she finished copying her notes and set her pencil down for a moment as she put her notebook away and pulled out her sketchpad. She flipped past a few of the drawings, and Warren watched with interest out of the corner of his eye. She was quite good, and then she paused at one of her sketches and he could see a smile totally take over her face. He looked down at the pad of paper and a woman stared back at him, she looked quite a bit like Anna, same eyes and mouth and the only person that she could have been was Anna's mother. Warren watched the sketch and then Anna's reaction to it and made the completely correct conclusion that Anna's mother had died, but not such a long time ago that she couldn't remember her still.

The portrait showed a woman, who didn't look like she knew her image was being captured; she seemed to be staring off the page in the direction of Warren, as though looking out a window, a peaceful look on her face, her eyes calm and gentle and her mouth relaxed, her dark hair spread on the pillow under her head. It was the most exquisite thing he had ever seen.

'That's my mother, about a minute or so after my sister Charlotte was born, I was nine. She was so happy because she'd always wanted a lot of children, and now she had another. But something went wrong, they couldn't stop the bleeding, and she died about an hour after Charlotte was born. I still remember it, I was sitting in her room, holding her hand and explaining Charlotte as best as I could, although she'd already seen her. Then the doctors were there and my mom was screaming and they rushed me out of the room. Then they said that she was gone and I couldn't understand it. For a while I blocked out the images, I couldn't remember the day Charlotte came and my mom left until about a year and a half ago, then I remembered this very scene, my mom half asleep on her hospital bed and I knew that I wanted to capture it, so I drew it.' She had noticed him watching and explained, all the while looking down at her mom. Warren didn't say a word as he looked from the sketch back to her. He understood more now.

'I miss her sometimes, but then I look at the sketch or at Charlotte and it isn't so hard anymore because she's here, not physically, but…' and she trailed off as a single tear trailed down her cheek, erasing some of the makeup off her black eye.

Warren watched as her makeup disappeared and the darkness of her eye came to light.

'What happened?' he asked as he put two fingers under her chin and forced her to look at him. She looked confused as to what he was talking about for a moment before noticing his attention to her eye.

'It's just a black eye, will you let it go?' she demanded as she pulled her head away from him grasp and her face from his prying eyes.

Warren didn't get a chance to answer as the rest of the class filed in and Professor Medulla started teaching.

As soon as class was over, Anna bolted out of there and Warren didn't see her again until lunch. He was tempted to walk over to her table where she sat alone and talk to her, really talk to her and make her answer about the bruises he could see and the ones that he couldn't, but he knew that she would never answer him and violence would probably only make her even more wary of him, and besides that he wasn't so sure he could take Layla dancing along behind him singing "I told you so, I told you so, I told you so" triumphantly.

Anna could feel his gaze on her and wished that she had gotten a lunch so that she could take the plastic fork and stab his absolutely gorgeous eyes out with it. Gorgeous? She needed a nap, and medication; this flu was starting to go to her head. She put a hand against her forehead and felt for a temperature, she felt a little warm, but then a severe temperature for her was probably only a degree or two off normal for everyone else. So there was no reason to go to the nurse, she'd tell her that she was just fine and to go to class.

Warren's eyebrow flew up as he watched Anna feel for a temperature and shake her head. He was starting to get worried, she hadn't sounded sick, maybe she was trying to fake sick to go home and avoid him? The more logical side of his brain yelled how egotistical that sounded and he removed the thought from his brain. She might be sick, he didn't know.

'Warren?'

'What hippie?'

'Stop staring at her, people are starting to talk.' She scolded him as she ate her salad and he looked at her like she had six heads.

'What are you babbling about?'

'People are talking about the two of you. Michael Johnson told Kevin Smith who told Anthony Davison who told Zach who told Magenta who told me that you and Anna had detention together for a few hours and that she goes to the Paper Lantern often, where you work, and that the two of you sit together in Medulla's class, plus the fact that you were a team on Save the Citizen.' She answered matter of factly and Warren's eyebrow flew up so fast that it was a wonder it didn't go zooming right off his forehead.

'First of all, who the hell were all those people you just mentioned, second of all, yes we did have detention but Will and I did also once, if you'll remember, and nothing happened then. Third of all, I've seen her at the Lantern once and she was only picking up an order, we didn't even say two words to each other, fourth of all the teams on Save the Citizen are chosen by Boomer, fifth of all we only sit together in Medulla's class because I transferred in and the only seat open was right next to her and finally, what business is it of these people anyway?' he thundered at her and she held up her hands in defense as his arms started to smoke.

'Hey, I'm telling you what I'm told and what I'm told is that you're replacing once Ice Queen for another.' She told him in a tone that told him clearly not to shoot the messenger. He waved a hand in dismissal of the subject, but his arms still gave off a slight wisp of smoke every once in a while the rest of the day, and he swore that if he ever found any of the people Layla had mentioned, he was going to roast them for starting rumors. And then he was even more pissed off because he couldn't figure out why he was so pissed off at these people for starting rumors he didn't care one ounce about, or did he? Now he wasn't sure and that only serviced to piss him off even more. He was really starting to hate High School.

Anna managed to get to her last class without passing out, the flu had hit her, and hard. She was having a hard time standing because her head starting swimming every time that she did, and she knew she had a temperature, probably one that even the nurse would notice. She wasn't vomiting yet, but she knew it was only a matter of time before she was violently ill. This day could not have gotten any worse. She sat in her seat in the back of the class, and managed to keep her head up enough that she didn't get in trouble for sleeping but low enough that the lights didn't hit her eyes and she didn't get even dizzier than she already was. She thanked God when the bell rang and slowly stood up. She placed a hand on her desk to brace herself as the room started to swim, but she didn't pass out, her vision came back to her and she made it to her locker and the bus without incident. She sat in her usual seat across from Warren, which, she realized, was probably a bad place to be sitting, Warren was way too concerned about her already, she didn't need to give him another reason to look at her the way he was.

Warren watched Anna as she sat down in her seat and placed her head against the back of the brown seat in front of her, she looked very sick. Her entire body was shaking and he could feel her heat waves, she had a temperature. It was nothing compared to the 104 degree temperature that he sported at all times, she was probably only about 100 but that must have been a wicked fever, considering that her normal body temp couldn't be a degree over 95 thanks to her powers. She sat in silence, never moving her body deliberately, and waited patiently for her stop. When it came she slowly stood, and paused before heading to the front of the bus and down the steps. Warren watched her the entire time to make sure that she got off safely and didn't pass out, which she looked ready to do at about any moment. He watched her walk all the way down the street and turn the corner before the bus pulled away and he couldn't see her anymore.

Anna made it to her house, which she considered a miracle, and unlocked the front door. She listened quietly for any sign that anyone was home, but all was quiet. She knew that Charlotte had a dance class directly after school, and her friend Kim gave her a ride because she was in the same class and her father must have gotten a job call from Dan. He did drywall every once in a while and Anna both rejoiced and trembled in fear whenever her father got a job. On the one hand when he had a job he was gone from early in the morning until pretty late at night, but on the other hand he was more irritable because he was tired and his muscles ached, which made him much more prone to his violent outbursts. But, she reasoned, if she stayed out of his way and made sure he had a hot dinner when he got home, then she could stay out of the hospital, and her supply of bandages and disinfectant wouldn't run low. So she set off to do her homework and then get a quick dinner ready for herself and Charlotte before making another dinner for her dad.

It had been three hours since she had gotten Charlotte home, fed, washed, and put to bed, and her father still wasn't home. Anna was getting sleepy, which she knew was bad, she had to make sure that her father's dinner was on the table, ready and hot when he got home or she was going to get it, and she wasn't so sure that her body could handle it, her father had been particularly angry and melancholy lately, probably because Charlotte's birthday was coming up soon and that was the day that they had lost a mother and a wife, which always made her father angry, much more towards Charlotte than towards Anna. That was something that Anna feared most of all, Josh's anger towards Charlotte. Anna had only ever seen Josh hit Charlotte once when she was five, and that had been enough. She had stepped in between the two of them ever since, determined never to let Charlotte take the beatings that she knew could seriously damage her. Charlotte was small for her age, probably because she had been born prematurely which may have been a large factor as to why their mother had died giving birth to her, and couldn't handle the beatings from a very large full-grown man. Anna, of course, really didn't have much tolerance for the beatings either, and she knew that, but she was determined that she would protect Charlotte from their father even if it killed her, and that thought kept her up at night also. The fact that one of these days her father was going to truly lose it and kill her. She had eleven years left. She was never going to leave Charlotte alone in this house, and so she would wait eleven years for her baby sister to turn eighteen so that she could finally take her out of here. Take her far away, so far away that their father could never reach them.

'Anna!' Joshua was home, and he sounded angry. Anna bolted up from her chair and ran into the kitchen, quickly taking his dinner out of the oven where it had been, staying warm, and put it on a plate and then on the table. She spun on her heel and grabbed a beer from the fridge, popped the lid off, cutting her hand open in the process, and placed it on the table by his dinner plate and silverware.

'In here.' She called in answer, and she watched as her father walked into the kitchen, a large coat hanging off his shoulders haphazardly, his boots becoming unlaced, and a good quantity of dust in his dark hair.

'Is that my dinner?' he asked her as he plopped down at the table.

'Yes, sir, enjoy it, I'm going to go to bed.' She told him quickly and she left the room, heading for the stairs, but she never made it. The fever had finally caught up to her, she had taken medicine and a nice hot bath but it had only helped for a few hours. She was just at the bottom of the stairs when the room started to swim and as she paused to wait it out she felt her knees become weak and then she couldn't remember anymore.

'Anna?' it was Charlotte, but her voice sounded so far away, and Anna couldn't quite remember where she was or how she got there.

'Charlotte?' she asked as she slowly sat up. She was in her bedroom, in her bed, her hand bandaged and a cold pack on her forehead.

'You passed out, Daddy put you to bed and said that you aren't to go to school.' Replied Charlotte, her wide brown eyes seemed just as surprised as Anna was when she heard what had happened. Joshua Serona did show affection towards his daughters once in a while, and every once in a while the beatings stopped for so long that Anna didn't even have bruises anymore, but they always started up again and the love only lasted so long before it too disappeared.

'What time is it?' asked Anna as she rested against her headboard, her head still swimming.

'In ten minutes I have to catch the bus.' Shrugged Charlotte, looking over at the clock on Anna's wall.

'Okay, why don't you go pack up your backpack and then head on down to the bus stop, and remember, I want you to meet up with Mrs. East and her son Marty, okay?' commanded Anna, making sure that Charlotte understood she was not to walk to the bus stop alone, she was to walk with the woman who lived two houses down and her little boy who was Charlotte's age.

'Okay.'

Anna watched from her window as Charlotte met with Mrs. East and Marty at the corner and the trio headed off towards the bus stop. Satisfied that her little sister was safe, Anna slowly got out of bed, and headed downstairs, intent on getting more medicine. She found it in the cabinet and took the correct dosage, grimacing as the eucalyptus burned her throat and her nasal passages. She hated taking medicine, but she couldn't miss too much school, she had to take care of Charlotte, and she didn't want to be home in case her father came home and decided to check on her, not that he ever would, but she didn't want to be in the house just in case hell really did freeze over.

Warren sat on the bus, but it didn't stop at Anna's stop and he watched as Ron just kept driving, past the empty space where Anna usually stood. Warren felt his heart rate start to speed up ridiculously fast as he thought of what might have happened to Anna that would warrant her not being able to come to school. She had looked rather ill the other day, but she also had several bruises, so he couldn't rule that out either. He really hoped that she had just gotten the flu and had to stay home because she was sick and that was it. She'd be back in school in a day or two.

She wasn't back in a day or two and Warren was really worried, it had been four days and she was still missing in action. Layla knew that Warren liked this girl and she also knew that there was something going on with her that was just…she couldn't put her finger on it, but she knew that whatever was happening to this girl to make Warren as concerned as he was, it was bad.

'Mr. Peace, stay after class, will you?' asked Medulla just before the bell rang and Warren stayed behind obediently wondering what he could have done this time, knowing that he had kept a reign in on his powers and had destroyed any school property lately.

'Yes sir?' he asked as he reached Medulla's desk and the genius handed him a stack of papers.

'You live close to Miss Serona, don't you?'

'Anna? Yeah, just two blocks over.' He nodded, wondering where this was going.

'Well, this is her makeup work, I was wondering if you could deliver it to her house, I think it would be best if she got it as soon as possible so that she can make it up in time to be able to pass the class.'

'Sure.' Shrugged Warren as he put the papers into his backpack with a mental note to make sure that Anna was okay, by handing her the papers personally.

He stood outside the Serona household just a few hours later, the papers in one hand, and the other poised just in front of the door; he was preparing himself to knock. He let his hand fall twice and waited patiently for someone to answer the door.

Anna was walking past the front door, on her way to the kitchen for one last batch of medicine; she was well enough to go to school and itching to get out of the house. She heard two knocks resound and the back door open. She headed for the front door first, glad that she had decided to put on a pair of clean grey sweatpants and a blood red beater. She swung open the heavy oak door to lock eyes with the very last person she had ever expected.

'Warren.' She exclaimed in surprise as she swung open the door even further.

'Hey.'

'Hi, what are you doing here?' she asked him, wary of his motives.

'Oh, uh, Medulla asked me to give you your makeup work so you didn't get too far behind.'

'Oh, cool, I'm going to be in school tomorrow though, but that's okay, do you want to come in?' she asked him as he handed her the papers and then just stood there, slightly awkward.

'I should probably go…' he was interrupted by a deep and booming voice that issued from the man behind Anna.

'Who the hell is this?'

Anna's face whitened noticeably, but she recovered quickly and spun to meet the man.

'Dad, this is Warren, he's a…' here she paused, unsure of what to say, 'a friend from school, he's just dropping off my work that I missed.'

Warren watched as she told the truth but both teenagers knew instantly from the look on her father's face that he didn't buy a single word.

'Really, you'd think you'd come up with better lies.' He growled out and Warren watched in a sort of trance as Anna's body hardened as she prepared herself for the blows that were sure to come. Her father reached forward, yanked her further into the house and slammed the door in Warren's face.

The pyrotechnic heard Anna yelp in surprise and then in pain once the door shut and he didn't waste any time. He burst in through the front door, knocking it halfway off its hinges and took in the scene before him. Anna was already on the floor, her lip bleeding and a dark stain against her beater, her father standing over her in anger, his fists still raised, and as he picked up his foot to stomp his daughter, Warren intervened. He stepped between the two, his arms catching flame with ease that he had never known before.

Josh paused in his movements long enough for Warren to get a hit in and send the bigger and older man flying into the next room. He headed after him, determined to keep him away from Anna for as long as possible. He needn't have bothered. Josh surveyed the angry pyrotechnic intent on protecting his bleeding daughter on the floor tears streaming down her cheeks, and bolted out the back door.

Warren watched him run away, and stood there for a few moments longer, just to make sure he didn't come back, before letting his flames die and turning on his heel to check on Anna.

She stared up at him from her place on the ground and the second they locked eyes she lost it, her tears flowed freely and she cried out in anguish as she hid her face, not wanting Warren to see her like that. Warren kneeled down and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. She didn't flinch or shake him off, which he took as a positive sign and he gently put both arms out, wrapping them around her, and lifted her off the ground and into his arms as easily as if she weighed nothing. She wrapped an arm around his neck and he started out the front door, stepping over the spilled homework on her front stoop, and leaving the broken door wide open.

'Don't worry, he won't hurt you anymore.' He whispered into her hair but she didn't answer, she merely snuggled further into the warmth that she found against his chest as he started the two blocks to his house.

'We'll come back for your stuff later, okay? Right now I need to give you some medical attention.' He murmured against her forehead as he shifted her in his arms to open the front door to his house.

'Charlotte!' she exclaimed, her eyes going wide in fear as she picked her head up from its place against his well muscled chest.

'Don't worry, you and I will get her from school. She won't have to go back and neither will you.' He promised as he entered his house, kicking the door shut behind him and gently depositing the broken girl in his arms onto his couch. She sat there, her bare feet curled up underneath her, and her head in her hands.

Warren sighed, and left her for only a moment to get the fully stocked medical kit that his mother kept under the kitchen sink. He returned to Anna to see that she hadn't moved a muscle since he had set her down and he slowly reached out and moved her hands away from her face to get a better look at her injuries.

He softly wiped the blood at the corner of her mouth away and double-checked to make sure that no teeth had been knocked loose. Then he started to lift up the hem of her shirt, and she quickly backed up further into the couch.

'No, you're okay, I just want to stop the bleeding.' He told her, holding out a single hand in a gesture of calm and peace. She watched him for a moment before deciding that he wasn't going to hurt her and she let his warm hands trail over the bruised flesh of her torso. His eyes darkened in anger as his eyebrows furrowed in an attempt to keep his power from breaking loose; Anna had been through so much, he really didn't want to hurt her anymore.

He cleaned the re-opened cut on her ribcage and put a fresh bandage and some butterfly stitches on it to help keep it closed so that it could heel as normally as possible. When he'd finished bandaging, cleaning, and putting the first aid kit away he sat on the couch next to her in silence, unsure of where to start.

Anna didn't speak, her tears long since dried and the bruise that had once marred her beautiful face, a fading memory. It was still a sickly yellow with a bit of green, but that meant it was healing.

'Do you want to tell me about it?' asked Warren gently, his deep, soothing voice breaking the tension and the silence.

'I…' she stopped there, unsure of what to say, unsure of how to explain. 'He loves me.' She said finally, unsure if she believed herself, because she knew what Warren was going to say.

'He's your father, of course he does.'

That wasn't what she was expecting.

'But just because he loves you, it doesn't necessarily mean that he's good for you.' That was the explanation that his mother had used when he'd told her that he wanted a relationship with his father, and she was right. While Warren loved his father and Barron Battle loved his son, it didn't mean that they should have a real relationship, just like Anna and her father.

'I know, but…I know that he loves me, he just drinks a lot and with my mother being gone.' She didn't believe her own excuses and Warren could see that, she was giving an automated response, something she believed that he wanted to hear.

'I want to know how you really feel about his, otherwise, I can't help you.' He told her gently as he wrapped a comforting arm around her trembling shoulders. To both their surprises she melted into his embrace, snuggling into his side, and the pair sat like that on the couch, leaning into the cushions and each other for comfort.

'Mom died when Charlotte was born, and my dad just lost it. He sat in front of the television for hours on end, drinking beer after beer. His powers disappeared and he just wasn't the same. I was nine, old enough to understand that the reason he wasn't my daddy anymore was that my mother was gone. So my grandmother, on Mom's side, came to live with us and help out with the new baby. She finally left when Charlotte was three and a half. Dad had snapped out of his trance, he'd started to react to us again; he was a father, so grandma left. But then things started to go wrong. He started drinking again and one night when Charlotte was five, she accidentally spilled a drink of water on the carpet. Dad had been drinking and he just lost it, he was screaming such horrible things at this five-year-old girl and she just stood there, her lip trembling, but he didn't stop. He kept screaming that she had killed her mother and when she started to cry he backhanded her across the face. She was just a little girl. I swore that I wouldn't let him lay a finger on her ever again, and I haven't. Every time he went after her I stepped in between, called him every name that I could think of, every name that I knew and he'd smack me around. Eventually I became the favorite punching bag and Charlotte only got in trouble if she tried to help me.' There she stopped, her tears overwhelming her again and Warren sat in stony silence, a very large part of him wishing that he had been able to hit Mr. Serona with a fireball.

'Then what happened, why haven't you gone to the police?' he asked her the one question that had been burning in his mind. The girl wrapped in his arms wasn't stupid, she had to know that she had options, ways to get out.

'And what happens if I do call the police and they take Charlotte and I away, but then something goes wrong and my dad doesn't go to jail and instead Charlotte and I are sent back? What then? He'd kill us. Even if it did work and he did go to jail for hurting me, Charlotte and I would be sent into foster care. I'd be out in only a few months, if I'd even have to go at all, but Charlotte would, she's only seven. We'd be separated and I might never see her again, and she's all I've got. I can't lose her Warren; I really don't think that I could handle it. There was no point in calling the police.'

Warren didn't reply, knowing that her arguments had truth to them. He just pulled her tighter against him and she snuggled into him gladly, because for the first time she was being taken care of instead of her taking care of everyone else and being beaten down for it. Truth be told, she kind of enjoyed it.

'What time does Charlotte get out of school?' he asked her gently and she sniffed before answering.

'Three.'

'Well, it's quarter till, c'mon we'll go pick her up and get some of your stuff.' He told her as he pulled her off the couch. She looked at him in confusion.

'Just where are we going to stay?' she asked him and he smiled softly at her.

'You'll stay here with my mom and me until we can think of something better.' He told her and she looked surprised again as he took her hand and led her out to his car.

'But…does your mother know about this?' she asked him as she allowed him to put her in the passenger side and buckle her in.

'No, but once I explain the situation she'll understand, and even if she doesn't it won't matter, you are not going back to that house.' He told her as he got in his side and started the engine.

'Will she understand?'

'Of course.' He soothed her fears as he pulled out of the driveway and down the street, towards the only elementary school within a mile and a half radius.


	3. READ!

Hey everybody, sorry this isn't another chapter, but before you exit out grumbling about how you're going to shoot me for getting your hopes up, hear me out. I seem to be having a major problem going further with this story, I just can't seem to get to where I want it to end up, I think I may have gone a bit too fast with Warren saving Anna, and I would just love to know what you all think because I would be nothing without you, so if you could drop me a line with your ideas I will take them into consideration and try to use some of them because my brain has frozen when it comes to this particular story, so please let me know what you all think and I will try to get more chapters up for this story because I love it and I do not want to give up on it.

Cheers, I love you all

Andrew's Slinky


	4. Saved and Pissed

The ride to Charlotte's school was incredibly uncomfortable for Anna. She was already starting to regret what Warren had done, and what it would mean for both her and Charlotte.

This was going to mean hell, for the both of them. She had a feeling that her father would let her go without much of a fight, but her younger sister was a different story, he would fight like hell to keep her and she would be damned if she was going to leave Charlotte in that house alone. They would have to go back, there was no other choice if she wanted to keep Charlotte safe.

"You're really quiet." Warren's gruff but soft voice broke the silence.

"You have to take me back, Warren." She replied quietly.

"What!" his voice and expression held obvious shock.

"You have to take me back." She repeated, not looking at him.

Warren managed to reach Charlotte's school and pull into the parking lot before shutting off the car. Anna kept her eyes straight ahead. He turned in his seat to look over at her.

"Anna."

She didn't even flinch.

"Anna, look at me." His voice was demanding and pleading all at the same time; she knew he didn't understand.

She turned slightly and looked over at him.

"You don't want to go back." She wasn't sure if he was trying to convince her or himself.

"I didn't say I wanted to, I said I have to." She replied, dodging the question.

"Okay," she could tell that he was battling for control, "Why do you have to go back?"

"Did you ever stop to think about what my dad would do if I left?" she demanded; she needed to make this his fault. He caught on quickly.

"Don't blame this on me, and to answer your question, no, I didn't, I was a bit too preoccupied with the fact that you were lying on the floor bleeding, and that you still have that black eye and the bruised ribs. The only thing I was thinking about was that I had to get you out before he killed you." He answered her in a controlled tone, and she had the thought that she'd much rather he yelled at her. Anger was something she could handle, something she had experience with.

"Anna…" he wanted to say something else, but he didn't know what.

"Just forget it." She growled as she turned away from him again and turned her eyes on the front doors of the towering brick building before her.

Warren wanted to forget it, wanted to take her back to his house and keep her safe, but it wasn't in his hotheaded nature.

"I won't forget it, I'm not taking you back."

Her gaze snapped back to him as the final bell rang and students, along with teachers, poured out of the doors.

"That isn't your decision, it's mine, so back the hell off." She replied icily as she left the car and jogged across the street to meet Charlotte. Warren watched her go, unsure of what to do. A very large part of him wanted to march over there, toss her over his shoulder caveman style and drag her back to his house by force, but he wanted her to trust him, not to be afraid of him.

Anna reached her sister and Warren was blinded by the smile and delight on the younger girl's face. Anna took Charlotte's pink backpack and swung it onto her own shoulder before grabbing her sister's hand.

She made Charlotte check the street twice before crossing it, and it amazed Warren how easy it was for Anna to keep Charlotte in line and listening to her. He watched them as they headed down the sidewalk and made a split second decision. He got out of the car and followed them on foot. He made sure to keep his distance, but his eyes never left the back of Anna's head almost causing him to step into the busy street several times.

When the two girls in front of him stopped he was surprised at their destination. It was a small brick house with painted white shutters and a swing-set in the side yard.

Anna, still holding her sister's hand, rang the doorbell and waited. A woman in her mid-thirties with dark brown hair and green-blue eyes opened the door and smiled wide when she saw the two girls standing on her porch.

"Hi Mrs. House."

"Hello Anna, Charlotte go ahead in, Sam's in the back with her dad."

Charlotte ran inside, but reappeared two seconds later, and threw her arms around Anna.

Warren saw the flicker of surprise and love flash across Anna's face as she bent down to the young girl's height and hugged her back tightly.

"You listen to me, okay? I want you to be good for Mrs. H. Do what she says, I'll be back to pick you up in a couple of hours. Have fun, and be careful."

Charlotte listened to her instructions carefully and nodded her blonde head when her sister finished, hugging her again and taking her small pink backpack before running inside, yelling for her friend.

"Thanks for this Mrs. H."

"No problem, sweetheart, you just let me or Greg know if we can do anything else, you know we love having Charlotte over." Replied the woman with a sweet smile as Anna waved goodbye and the door closed behind her.

Anna sighed heavily and set out for a walk. She always let Charlotte stay with the House's on days where her father had been particularly bad the night before or when Charlotte needed a break from the environment she was subject to. She trusted the middle aged couple and their daughter Sam to take care of her sister as well as she would.

"Anna!" her thoughts were interrupted by the one person she did not want to see.

"Go away, Peace." She called back and Warren blanched at the use of his last name, but it didn't deter him.

"Will you just listen to me?" he asked her and she laughed.

"No, go away, I don't want to listen to how you can save me, because really I'm not interested." She replied with a growl to her voice and Warren paused in his tracks, running his fingers through his hair. He had to think of something that would make Anna want to stay with him, or at least listen, something that meant a lot to her, since she didn't seem willing to do it for herself. Then it hit him.

"If you go back, he'll kill you, and then where would Charlotte go?" he called to her and she stopped dead in her tracks, and he could see her back muscles tighten.

"Don't talk about her." She told him as she stalked to his still form and got into his face.

"Anna, if you go back, it will end badly, and Charlotte will either be all alone in that house with your abusive father, or in foster care all alone, and to me neither sounds like much fun." He deadpanned, and he knew he was being a bastard, but all he could think was that she could hate him right now just so long that she would be alive to forgive him later.

She slapped him right across the face and he could taste the blood gathering at the corner of his mouth.

"Go to hell." She replied in such a tumultuous, yet quiet anger that it floored him and he had absolutely no response, and no feeling in his legs to go after her as she ran.

Anna swung silently on the one swing that still worked at the old playground her mind a battlefield of emotions that she was trying so hard to control. She didn't swing very high, but there was something about the wind on her face that seemed to calm her, always had, ever since she was little.

Her bare-feet dragged along the ground and she wished she had had time to grab a pair of shoes before being dragged away from her home. Then she felt guilty for being mad at Warren, when all he wanted to do was help, but who in the hell did he think he was just deciding how to run her life for her? What gave him the right to save her? What if she didn't deserve to be saved? What if this was what was supposed to happen?

She knew that train of thought was a cop-out. No one deserved what she and Charlotte had to go through, and she should be thanking whoever was up there that they had sent Warren into her life.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt a pair of warm hands on the small of her back, but then she was swinging forward from the push and the wind soothed her enough for her to realize it was Warren behind her.

She swung back into him and he pushed her gently forward again.

"So, what are you, my guardian angel?" she asked him and he chuckled.

"I don't know about all of that, angel doesn't seem like the word to describe me." He replied with a small laugh, which she joined in on.

"Okay, that's fair, but why do you want to help me so damn much?"

"I don't know, I just knew that look on your face, helpless, and I just wanted to help."

"But you had no idea what was going on, I could have gotten into a fight in my neighborhood and received that black eye for all you knew but you jumped to conclusions."

"I didn't jump, it was more of a leap," he teased as he pushed her forward again, "but something told me that wasn't the case, and the way you were so vehement on not letting anyone call you by your last name, I just connected the dots."

"You do know that if you help me, your life will be hell for the next year or so, maybe longer."

He stopped her as she swung back into him, and she stifled a gasp as her back was pressed against his chest and his face was only inches from hers as they turned towards each other slightly.

"I know."

She was drowning; drowning all over again in the deep chocolate pools that were his eyes, and the funny part was that this time she didn't mind so much. He smiled gently at her and she could feel the entire world brighten even as she was drowning and she looked away in slight embarrassment, letting her hair hide the blush on her cheeks. Warren sighed softly, his smile still on his face, and gently let go of the swing, stepping back a bit.

"So, do you still want to help me?" she asked him and his smile only brightened at how insecure she sounded, because usually she was just angry with him.

"Yeah, c'mon, we'll go get Charlotte and then stop at your dad's and get some things, and you can stay at my place until we figure this out." He offered as he came around to stand in front of her and put out his hand. She stared at his open palm for a moment and then her gaze flickered to his face, reading his sincerity, and then she sighed, reached out and took his hand with her own.

He helped her up from her place on the swing and pulled her a little closer to his chest than entirely necessary. She didn't step back until he did and the two of them started together towards Charlotte, and in Anna's case a new life that she so desperately wanted.

"Anna, honey, what are you doing back so soon?" asked Mrs. House as Anna knocked on her front door, Warren right next to her.

"I'm sorry, I know I said a few hours, but I'm sure Charlotte has homework and so do I, and I would really like to get her back home if you don't mind." She was ever polite, but the woman before her could hear the urgency in her voice and smiled.

"Of course, I'll just go get her."

The woman left the doorway to retrieve the youngest Serona sister, and Anna and Warren stood on the porch in silence.

"Anna?" a man, older than Mrs. House by at least ten years, with a cane limped towards the open front door.

"Hello Dr. House, how are you?" she kept the conversation simple and polite.

"I'm okay, and you?" he asked her.

"Can't complain." She replied as Charlotte came running down the hallway and towards her beloved older sister.

"Anna!" she called as she launched herself into the teenager's arms, and Anna swung her around, causing giggles to erupt.

"Hey there sweet pea, ready to go home?"

"Yeah, who's that?" she asked as she caught sight of Warren, who smiled at her.

"That's Warren, I'll explain in the car, c'mon."

Charlotte didn't say another word as she and Anna both waved goodbye to the couple standing in the doorframe and followed a silent, but smiling, Warren down the street towards his car.

"Anna, where are we going?" asked Charlotte as Anna strapped her in the backseat of Warren's car, and placed her pink backpack on the seat next to her.

"We, are going to go back home, get some clothes and other stuff, and then we are going to go and stay with Warren." Answered Anna honestly and Charlotte looked very surprised.

"Daddy said that was okay?" she asked in shock and awe, then her face didn't look so excited when Anna's fell.

"That's just it, sweetie, Daddy doesn't really know, and it has to stay that way, do you understand?" Anna asked as she crouched next to the car so she could look Charlotte in the eye.

"Yes," nodded the blonde beauty but then her eyes grew wide and slightly fearful, " what if Daddy comes for us, who'll stop him then?" she asked.

Warren felt his heart constrict at the tone in Charlotte's voice, which told him exactly what he had feared all along, Charlotte witnessed Anna's beatings, probably on a regular basis.

Anna stayed silent, not so sure she could answer that question, at least not the way she truly wanted to. She jumped a bit when she felt a warm hand on her shoulder as Warren crouched next to her.

"I'll protect you, Charlie." He promised as he looked into the little girl's big brown eyes. She smiled at him, and the joy nearly blinded him.

"Anna too?"

"Anna too, Charlie." He answered as he squeezed Anna's shoulder gently and he could sense her smile even though she wasn't looking at him.

"Charlie." Charlotte repeated a small frown on her face, and Warren copied her look.

"You don't like it?"

"No," she held out her hand as if to stop that very train of thought, "I like it."

"So I can call you Charlie?"

"Yeah." She nodded.

"Good, c'mon Anna, let's go."

The two teenagers got into the car and buckled their seatbelts.

The ride to Anna's house was a silent one except for the humming coming from the back seat as Charlotte watched her surroundings with a small smile on her face, she had often wished that Anna would run away, because she knew that what her Daddy was doing was wrong, and she knew that if Anna didn't leave, then she might die in that house.

"Okay, Charlotte, I want you to pack your duffle bag with only the things that you need, all right? That's clothes, a toothbrush, shoes, and one stuffed animal."

Charlotte nodded, her brown eyes serious as she ran up the stairs and towards her room. Anna walked through the house first, to double check that her father wasn't home before running after her younger sister, leaving Warren to stand in the foyer, a little awkward.

He looked at all the pictures hanging on the dining room wall, and smiled. They were of Anna and Charlotte as little kids.

A ten-year-old Anna holding a new born Charlotte in her lap, and Mr. Serona holding his new baby daughter, a distraughtfully happy look on his face. An elderly woman, who had to be the grandmother that Anna had mentioned earlier, holding Anna's hand in the park, baby Charlotte on her hip.

A clatter on the stairs alerted him to the return of the Serona sisters and he quickly returned to his place by the door, locking the happy pictures away in his mind.

"Ready?" he asked as Anna came down with a medium sized duffle bag in her hand, and Charlotte padded after her, a much smaller bag in one hand and a rather ratty looking stuffed bunny in the other.

"I think so." Nodded Anna as Charlotte took off towards the car, not even bothering to look back, but Anna was having a harder time with this than she had thought. Because there were memories in this house, happy ones, like the time her father had dressed up as Santa Clause and surprised both her and her mother. The day she found out Charlotte would be coming, the day her father got promoted at work and had been so excited that he had picked her mother up and swung her around before hugging her in the same fashion.

But then images of a crying Charlotte as her father yelled entered her mind, and the day he had shoved her down the stairs, the blood that drenched the floor and the wall, and her clothes. The many outfits that had been ruined by the stains, the fact that she had to clean up her own blood, that he hated her so much as to hit her, entered her thought and all of a sudden, leaving wasn't so bad.

"C'mon." Warren held out a hand that she gladly took and together they left the house, neither looking back.

"Welcome to your new home." Pronounced Warren with a smile, a little more for Charlotte's benefit than Anna's.

Anna stepped over the threshold of the Peace home and sighed contentedly, she had a feeling that she was going to like it here.

So, there it is, another chapter to Warren Peace's Undoing, I would just like to thank Amber-Jade James for all her love and support and her ideas that made this chapter possible, I hope that you all like it, and I'm sorry for the delayed update, but with all these AP classes I'm taking this year, school is kicking my butt.

Push that lovely blue-ish purple button down there and review, you know you want to.

Much love---Andrew's Slinky.


	5. A New Home

"Warren, honey, I'm home." Juanita Peace called as she entered the house, her keys and jacket in hand.

"Mom!" Warren sounded surprised, his mother was home early, " you're home." And he jumped up from his place on the couch next to Anna and Charlotte to hug his mother and kiss her temple in greeting.

"Hi honey, who're they?" she asked as she looked at Anna and Charlotte and then back to her son.

"Oh, Mom, this is Anna and her sister Charlotte." He pointed to each girl in turn and Charlotte waved but Anna could only manage a smile, she had forgotten about Warren's mother and what she would think about all of this.

"C'mon, I'll tell you all about it in the kitchen." He soothed as he took his mother's elbow and led her into the crisp white and blue kitchen.

"Warren, what are those two girls doing in our house this late?" she turned on him the second they were out of ear-shot and he held up his hands in mock surrender.

"It just wasn't safe at their place anymore Mom, I had to get them out."

She looked confused at his statement, but it seemed to cool her slight temper.

"What d'you mean?"

"Mom, their dad, he beats Anna and Charlotte witnesses it on a regular basis."

His mother's eyebrows flew up and her mouth dropped into a perfect "o" shape.

"Warren, do you know what a serious accusation that is?" she asked him and he nodded.

"Yes Mom, I do, but I've seen the bruises, and when I went to her house today her father hit her right in front of me."

"Does anyone else know?" she asked and he shook his head.

"I don't think so, she wouldn't even tell me after I confronted her."

"Do you think she'll tell the police?"

"I don't know."

"We should talk to her."

Warren nodded in compliance, but didn't know what else to say as he followed his mother towards the living room.

"Mom?"

"Yes, honey?"

"Can they stay?" he was actually starting to get scared that his mother wouldn't allow them to stay.

"Of course."

He let out a breath he didn't even realize he was holding. He didn't know what he would do if Anna and Charlotte weren't allowed to stay in his house.

"Anna?" Ms. Peace called into the living room and Anna looked over at mother and son.

"Yes, Ms. Peace?" she asked hesitantly as she gently removed Charlotte from her lap and set her on the couch cushion to her left.

"Can Warren and I talk to you for a moment?"

"Of course." She was compliant and kissed Charlotte's forehead in affection before following the slightly intimidating woman and her son through the kitchen and to the backyard.

"Anna." Started Ms. Peace as she stopped next to her flower garden and Anna kept her attention on the dark-haired, blue-eyed woman in front of her.

"Anna, Warren told me about what has happened at your house."

Anna visibly paled and Warren placed a warm, gentle hand on the small of her back.

"Yes ma'am."

"I would like to know if it is true that your father hits you."

Anna looked down at the beautiful white rose garden behind Ms. Peace and a faint smile entered her blue eyes when she saw the single red rose growing in with all the white ones.

"Yes ma'am." She had a feeling that red rose was for Warren.

Ms. Peace sighed at her positive answer and ran her long, slender fingers through her hair.

"Very well, you and Charlotte will stay with us, and tomorrow, you, Warren and I will go down to the police station and tell them everything."

"No!"

Both Warren and his mother looked very surprised at her exclamation and she made sure to quiet her voice before continuing.

"I can't go to the police, they'll take Charlotte away, she can't survive without me, please, I can't let that happen, I'm all she knows, she won't understand." She was starting to panic and Warren pulled her into a hug.

"It'll be okay Anna, I won't let that happen. You're the only living family Charlotte has, and if this is where you're staying, then that'll be where they put her." He sounded so sure, and she really wanted to believe him, but she wasn't so sure that she did.

"I guess so." She gave him neither a definite yes or definite no because she truly didn't know what to do.

"Well, it's late, you kids better get some sleep if you're going to be able to get up for school in the morning." Interrupted Ms. Peace and Warren unwrapped his arms from around Anna and she did the same. The three of them walked back into the house to find Charlotte curled against the cushions of the couch, fast asleep.

Anna smiled wide and shook her head, and quietly, so as not to wake her sister, collected Charlotte's things and placed them in the back guest room Warren had showed her earlier and then came back out to collect her sister.

Warren beat her to it. He already had her sister in his arms and was halfway down the hallway towards her. She smiled silently at him and stepped to the side so that he could get past her with his precious cargo.

He gently set Charlotte against the sheets of the bed against the wall as Anna dug through her duffle bag and pulled out Charlotte's favorite ratty bunny. It had been bought the day of her birth, by her mother, in the hospital gift shop, and she had never slept without it. She placed the bunny in Charlotte's arms and kissed her forehead as she smoothed her hair away from her face.

"She'll be okay Anna, you both will be." Warren's strong hands wrapped around her shoulders and she melted into the feeling for a moment before he was gone, down the hallway towards his own room.

Anna had been sleeping soundly for a few hours when a small scream woke her with a start. She sat up, looking around wildly for the source of the noise and her wide blue eyes settled on Charlotte's small frame tossing and turning, tangled up in the sheets.

"Charlie. Charlie." Anna shook her baby sister's shoulders and Charlotte sat up in a snap, her eyes wide and her breathing labored.

"You're okay baby, you're okay." Soothed Anna as she pulled her into a hug and Charlotte hugged her back fiercely, as tears stung her closed eyes.

"What was it sweetie?" she asked as Warren appeared at their doorway, his eyes smoldering and his body covered in a fine sheen of sweat.

"I had a bad dream." Murmured Charlotte against her neck and Anna made shushing noises as her sister's tears became louder.

"Wanna talk about it?" asked Warren as his mind registered that it had only been a dream and their father hadn't come for them like he had first thought when he'd heard the scream.

"Daddy was there, and so were you Anna." She managed and Anna felt her heart plummet to the vicinity of her toes because she had a feeling that she knew where this particular dream sequence was going to go. She felt the bed dip some more as Warren sat next to and slightly behind her.

"Then what?" he asked.

"Then Daddy was yelling like he usually does but it was different."

"How sweetie?" asked Anna, her throat constricting with her own tears at Charlotte's obvious fear. Warren wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"He was much angrier and his eyes were scary. Then he hit you."

Warren's grip tightened.

"Then what Charlie?" he asked her.

"Then you fell but this time you didn't get up, not even after he left. Why didn't you get up Anna?" she asked and Anna felt the tears slide down her cheeks. Warren wrapped both arms around the shaking teen and the girl in his arms, encompassing them both in his embrace.

"It was only a dream, Charlie, it was only a dream." She whispered as she kissed her sister's temple and hugged her closer.

"I'm still tired Anna."

"I know sweetie, why don't you get some more sleep, okay?"

"But what if the bad dream comes back?" asked Charlotte fearfully and Anna smiled down at her as reassuringly as she could with giant tears still clinging to her cheeks.

"I'll stay right here and chase the dreams away." She promised and Warren smiled.

"What about you Warren?" asked Charlotte, wondering what her new friend was going to do.

"I'll stay too, okay?" he asked and she nodded.

"That sounds good."

She snuggled back into her big sister's arms and slowly drifted off to sleep. Anna shifted a bit until she was laying on her side, Charlotte curled into her. Warren was behind her, spooning her, his arm crossed over both her and Charlotte, creating warmth for the three of them.

Anna slowly drifted off to sleep, feeling the safest she ever had in her life, and Warren soon followed, a small smile on his handsome face.

Sorry this chapter is a little short, but I think that it ends well here, and I know that I said on my profile that I was going to put this on hiatus, but last night I suddenly had some inspiration and produced this. I don't know if it's very good, and as stated before, I know it's short, but I did try. So cheers to all of you who have stuck with me through this story, and next chapter I'm going to have them walk to the bus stop together and then Layla will see them get on together and as we all know, this hippie just can't let anything go.

Love you all

Andrew's Slinky


	6. The Next Morning

Anna woke up the next morning to find that Charlotte had already disappeared and she was alone with Warren, curled up in his arms like a lover. That thought didn't disturb her as much as she thought it should and that frightened her a bit.

"Warren?" she asked as she sat up, hoping that he was still asleep. He shifted next to her and rolled over onto his back, his arm that had once been wrapped around her, was now laying haphazardly across his taut stomach, and his other arm was curled beneath his head as a second pillow.

Anna thought he looked deceptively innocent when he was sleeping; he looked like a normal teenager. She smiled and resisted the urge to giggle at what he would say if he found out she thought he looked even remotely innocent, asleep or awake. He prided himself on being tough and untouchable, she could tell, it was the same exact defense mechanism that she used, hurt other people before they hurt you, or pretend that what they say doesn't bother you because if you can convince them then maybe you can convince yourself.

She gently ran her fingers through his dark hair before sliding out of the bed and padding quietly down the hallway, looking for her sister.

"Charlie?" she called into the quiet of the living room. She looked out the front window and found that Ms. Peace's car was already gone.

"Charlie?" she called again as she headed towards the back of the house and then out into the backyard to find her sister bent over the rose garden, just watching the flowers.

"Charlie, sweetie, what are you doing?" she asked as she kneeled behind the tiny blonde and looked over her shoulder to see what Charlotte was seeing.

"The red rose is like Warren, in a sea of white." She smiled up at her elder sister and Anna smiled back down at her.

"What do you mean?" she asked, wondering why exactly Charlotte seemed to know what other people were feeling or thinking.

"Well, Warren controls fire, right?"

"Yeah." Replied Anna, wondering if she had ever mentioned that to her sister.

"Well, he's red, like fire, but these flowers." She gestured to the white roses, "are like the others, just as pretty but not…" and there she trailed off, wondering what word to use but Anna nodded.

"I get it sweetie." She hugged her sister close and felt tears swell in her throat at just how wise the seven-year-old was.

"Anna, Charlie?" Warren called from inside the house and Anna looked towards the source of the noise before lifting Charlotte to her feet and leading her back to the house.

"Anna?!" his voice was a little more panicked now.

"Right here, we're right here." She called back to him as they entered the house and Warren spun on his heels to catch her gaze.

"Don't do that, I thought…" but he trailed off when he noticed Charlotte, not wanting to upset her after her nightmare the night before.

"Nevermind, just c'mon, we have to get ready for school."

Charlotte smiled at him as she ran past towards the bathroom and Anna placed a gentle hand on his bicep.

"Thanks for last night, she needed it…we both needed it."

He smiled down at her and she returned it before heading off to the back guest room to change her clothes.

A half-hour later Charlotte was at school and Anna and Warren were walking to the bus stop together.

"Warren?"

"Yeah?" he asked, a bit of concern in his voice as he looked over at her.

"Aren't people going to ask questions?"

"What d'you mean?"

"You know, won't they ask questions about why we're getting on to the bus together and all of a sudden we're getting along and not fighting? I mean the people that we go to school with may not be the brightest people, but they aren't stupid, they'll see that something's going on."

"They might, what's our story?"

"I dunno, I didn't really think that far." She admitted with a shrug and he chuckled.

"Me neither."

"So what do we do?"

"Just wait to see what the questions are I guess, and other than that act like nothing has changed."

"Right."

The well-matched pair stood at the bus stop, waiting for the yellow vehicle to show up and when it did they got on together, but sat in their regular seats across from each other.

Layla was looking out the window and when her eyes adjusted to the slight morning fog she saw something she didn't think she'd ever see. Warren was standing next to the new girl Anna, and he was smiling! The pair of them were talking but when the bus got closer they stopped and waited patiently for it to reach them.

Layla watched as they got on together but separated to sit in their normal seats across from each other. Her analytical mind made the connection that Anna didn't live close enough to Warren for them to share a bus stop, in fact, Anna got on at another one a few minutes down the road. So that had to mean that either Anna had changed houses (which she found unlikely as she had just moved into town) or she and Warren were meeting together somewhere else, and the rumors were true, the pair were together. She made a mental note to ask Warren about it later.

Anna sat in her normal seat on the bus but she could feel the eyes on her because she had arrived with the school's bad boy. She thought that was slightly funny, because if any of them knew what Warren had done for her in the past couple of days, they would never associate him with his father or the image he had had in his earlier years at Sky High.

But she did wish that they'd stop staring, especially the red head just a few seats ahead of her, and she was starting to creep her out a bit. She was looking from her to Warren and then back, Anna had seen her before, she sat with Warren at lunch, maybe the two were together?

That thought made her sick to her stomach so she quickly banished it and tried her best to think of something else but everytime she tried she was stuck with images of herself and Warren that morning, and how comfortable she had felt in his arms, how safe she had felt. She wondered if he made the redhead feel safe too, then she realized that she was being ridiculous and paranoid. Warren wasn't hers, he was just a friend and if he wanted to be with the redhead that was his choice, he didn't have to tell her about it.

Warren sat in his seat and kept an eye on Anna, wondering if she was really okay with all the changes that had happened so fast. The more dominant side of him roared that even if she wasn't he was going to keep her safe no matter what, and then the logical side of him reasoned that if she wasn't happy he couldn't hold her against her will, not that either side was going to let her go back to her abusive father, but the more logical side might just let her move out and then he was at war with himself again over what to do with the beautiful Ice Queen who had so captured his attention.

All three teenagers in were in such deep thought that they didn't even register the bus landing on the grounds of the high school and were the last three to leave the confines of the yellow metal. The three of them stood awkwardly before leaving in single file, pretending the others didn't exist.

Warren headed to his locker, and so did Layla as Anna went straight to first period, a new idea for a sketch entering her mind.

"Warren, what the hell?" asked Layla in genuine curiosity as the pyrotechnic watched the Ice Queen leave.

"What?" asked Warren in surprise, he had never in his life heard Layla curse, not that she had done it very convincingly mind you, but still, she was a hippie she shouldn't curse at all.

"What are you doing with her?" she asked, gesturing to Anna's retreating form and Warren looked at her before switching his attention back to the slightly incensed redhead before him.

"What d'you mean?" he asked her, wondering if somehow he had blown the secret.

"You show up at the same bus stop today when normally she gets on three stops after you." Replied Layla in her matter-of-fact kind of way.

"Yeah well, she just sorta showed up." He lied through his perfect white teeth and he knew the instant it leaked past his lips Layla didn't believe him.

"Liar." She replied with a small smirk and he glared at her.

"Nevermind hippie." He replied with a low growl as he slammed his locker shut and stalked off to first period.

It was lunch and somehow Warren had managed to avoid Layla and her questions the entire day, but then there she was, across the table, salad in front of her, fork in hand, and a determined look on her face.

"You have been lying to me Warren and I want to know what's going on." She told him as she stabbed her lettuce a bit savagely and Warren had a rather disturbing thought of her coming at _him_ with that fork in her hand.

"What are you talking about?" he asked her as he put down his book with a great sigh.

"You and Anna are up to something and I want to know what, not all the details mind you, but c'mon Warren, everybody is talking about it."

"Yeah, well, everybody needs to shut up and mind their own damn business." He was starting to get truly angry, they needed to leave Anna alone, and they needed to leave his relationship (whatever that was) with her alone. It would be so much simpler if they just minded their own damn business, because if word got back to her father that she and Charlie were staying with him and his mother, it would mean mega trouble. Because Mr. Serona would have the law on his side, at least where Charlie was concerned and Warren knew that no matter what kind of danger it would put her in, Anna would return to that house to protect her sister.

"Warren, it's just a little odd. I mean no one would even know her name if the teachers didn't call roll, and you aren't really known for your amazing people skills." She told him as she stabbed another forkful of lettuce and Warren sighed.

"She's a…she's a friend, okay, that's it." He finally conceded just a bit to the hippie's demands to know what was going on and that answer seemed to satisfy her for the moment. Well, at least until she finished chewing.

"She's more than that, or at least there is something more going on, I mean the two fo you have never talked inside of school, except for that one time in detention, but you said nothing happened."

"Nothing did happen."

She waved her fork in dismissal of the subject and pressed on with her original question.

"Warren, do you have feelings for her?"

I know that I am totally evil in leaving it here, but it felt like a good place to stop, besides, I love a good cliffie. Thanks for all the loving reviews and I know that some of you were expecting a big reaction from Layla, but 1) she's a hippie, more tree hugger, than gasket blower, and 2) she doesn't know that Warren and Anna are living together yet.

Sorry if Layla seems a little OOC, I just seem to have a hard time writing her, I dunno why.

Hugs and Kisses

XOXOXOXOX

Andrew's Slinky


	7. The Next Morning and Afternoon

Warren could feel the satisfaction within him build as he heard the cursing of people around him. And he could feel the glare that Layla was sending him as he walked away from her and the ash that was once her lunch. She should have known better than to ask him to reveal any feelings, which, he wasn't so sure what they were himself after her question. But that was not the point, the point was that she had known him for over a year now and she should have realized after the first ten seconds that he didn't really do the whole "sharing of emotions" thing.

"Warren?" asked a voice from behind him and he turned in the empty hallway to find a confused Anna standing there.

"What's wrong?" he asked her, a bit panicked, he had been told the plan was to act like nothing had changed, and her talking to him was changing things, so there had to be an emergency.

"Why did you just incinerate that girl's lunch?" she asked him with the air of his mother catching him in a lie, and that thought scared him.

"She was asking too many questions." He replied frostily, hoping that she wasn't going to ask what the question that had set him off was.

"What did she ask you?"

He could never catch a break.

"Just why the two of us were together and ifIlikedyou." He uttered the last part as quickly as he could.

"What?" she asked, knowing what it was he said, but wanting to see him squirm a bit.

"She wanted to know if I had feelings for you."

"And you said?" she asked him, genuinely curious as to the answer.

"I didn't say anything." he replied with a bit of anger laced into his deep voice and she instantly dropped the subject, her hair didn't handle heat well.

"Oh, well, I had a question about this afternoon."

"Yeah?" he was relived with the change of subject.

"Do I really have to go to the police?"

"Anna, if you don't he'll come for you and Charlotte."

"I know, I know, I'm just a little scared, I mean what if they don't believe me?"

"They will, you still have the bruises, they can't dispute them."

"I know, but they could be attributed to just falling, what if…"

"No, they will believe you, I'll tell them what I saw, we'll show them the bruises, and if they still don't believe you we could have Charlie…"

It was her turn to cut him off.

"No, we are not bringing Charlie into this, I don't want her to have to go through this, she's been through enough."

"I know you don't want to traumatize her, but if the police need more proof, they're going to have to talk to Charlotte."

"I don't want her to have to relive that, I don't want her to be scared, Warren, I promised her that I would keep her safe, and making her talk to the police, making her do anything to stop Dad is like tossing her to the wolves."

"So we'll be there to catch her before she falls into the pit. Anna, we may need Charlie." He told her as he placed his hands on her shoulders and gently rubbed her arms.

"I know, but, I don't think that I'm strong enough to do this, and if I'm not then she isn't, she's seven years old for Christ's sake." The tears were back and as hard as she tried to force them down, she couldn't.

Warren saw the tears and pulled her into his arms, the only way he knew how to soothe her.

"It'll be okay, I'll be there." He murmured into her hair and she nodded.

"I know, but I'm still scared."

"It's okay to be scared sometimes."

She started to laugh and he looked down at her in question.

"What?"

"When did you become a bad after school special?" she asked him and he playfully shoved her.

"Since you became a soap-opera."

She smacked his arm.

"Not nice."

"You started it."

The pair of them stood there, grinning like idiots, the problems of just a few seconds before seemingly forgotten, but what they didn't notice was the person watching them from just down the hallway, hidden in the slight shadows caused by the turns and fluorescent lighting.

"We better get to class." Anna was the first to break the silence and Warren nodded. They should, before lunch ended and the pair of them were seen in the hallway together. Layla may have been the only one observant enough to notice Anna got on at the wrong bus stop, but even Zach would notice the two of them in the middle of the hallway, as close as they were, grinning like idiots.

Both managed to get through the rest of the day without any more questions and got on the bus together, but ignored each other like before and like before, sat in seats opposite of each other.

Anna got off the bus first, Warren only a few steps behind and she could feel her stomach erupt into butterflies. Butterflies that seemed to be tying knots into her intestines. She felt like she was going to be sick. She wasn't strong enough to go to the police, she wasn't brave enough, she just wasn't.

"Warren, I don't think I can do this." Her voice was shaking as the pair started towards his mother and her running car.

"What d'you mean?" he asked her and she shook her head.

"I can't do this, I'm not strong enough to do this." She started to turn back but he had been expecting that and caught her around the shoulders, spinning her to face the opposite direction.

"Oh no you don't, you can do this, I'll be there the entire time, I promise." And he started to walk with her towards his mother's car.

"No, no, no, I can't." she was shaking her head and digging her heels in. Warren merely tightened his grip a bit and pulled her flush against his chest, pushing her to the car.

"Yes you can, and if you can't do it for yourself, do it for Charlie, she needs you to be strong Anna, because then she'll be able to be strong too."

He was playing dirty and he knew it, he shouldn't be using Charlotte against her, for the second time, but she needed motivation for what she was about to do and he knew that if she was ever going to find inspiration in something it was that this would provide a better life for Charlie.

"Okay, for Charlotte."

"That's my girl." He whispered as he opened the door for her and she slid into the car, the butterflies now dancing a jig on top of the knots.

Warren got in the other side and reached out, taking her shaking hand in his as his mother drove to the police station.

"Can I help you?" asked a rather tall man, with short black hair and tan skin. He looked Latino and introduced himself as Detective Ramirez.

"Uh, yes, hi, my name is Anna Serona and I'd like to report child abuse." She replied quietly, her grip on Warren's hand tightening.

"Okay, why don't you come with me and I'll take your statement." He sounded a bit surprised about her claim but offered her a seat and sat across from her, paper and pencil in his hand.

"Who is the child in question?" he asked her, swinging into full on detective mode.

"Me." Her voice was small.

"Okay, who is the abuser?" he asked her, his voice becoming less business like and more like a concerned human being.

"My father."

"Anna, what kind of abuse?" he asked her and she knew what he meant.

"Nothing sexual," Warren's hand heated up at he mere suggestion, "he hits me."

"Okay, now, in order to file a report, I'm going to need proof. Eyewitnesses, medical proof."

"I have bruises, and some documentation from a few emergency room visits, but they aren't my name, I lied."

"You lied in the emergency room?"

"Yes, I didn't want anyone to know, I have younger sister and if they took me away, she'd be all alone in that house."

"Has your father ever hit her?"

"Once, when she was five, but now I divert all his attention to me, she's too little."

"Okay, I understand. I'm going to need to see your bruises and document them with pictures and then I'll need to see those medical forms from the hospital and have you checked out by another emergency room to collaborate those earlier medical findings, okay?"

She nodded; she was starting to feel a little more relaxed.

"Do you still live with your father?"

She looked up at Warren who smiled and squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Uh, no, I'm living with a friend, my sister and I are, uh, but my dad doesn't know where we are, or who we're with."

"Okay, I'm going to need your current address and your father's address."

"Okay."

"C'mon, I'll take you to the back room to get your information." He stood and waited patiently for her to follow, but she hesitated.

"Can Warren come too?" she asked, not letting go of the teenage boy's hand.

"Sure." Replied Detective Ramirez, a small smile on his face at how relaxed the boy seemed to make her.

"Thank you." She seemed truly grateful for his allowance and Detective Ramirez led the both of them to the back room.

Okay, there's another chapter, hope you liked it, not really a lot of Anna/Warren interaction, but that was bound to happen when I reached this part of the story, hope you'll all still read and review

Love ya

Andrew's Slinky


	8. New Friends and Hospital Visits

"Anna, Anna!" Charlotte called as her still shaking sister walked up the steps to Warren's house.

"Hey baby." She called back as she swung the little girl around in the air.

"Did you talk to the police?" she asked her sister, as she wrapped her arms around the older girl's neck.

"Yes, I did, and they were very helpful, remember what I told you about the police?" she asked and Charlotte nodded.

"Yeah, they're there to help us."

"That's right."

They were in the house now and Anna set Charlotte down, nudging her towards the bathroom to get washed up for dinner.

"You okay, Anna?" asked Warren as he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, watching Charlotte run down the hallway.

"Yeah, I will be." She nodded, and for the first time in her life, she actually believed herself.

"Good, we have to go back to the cops tomorrow, don't forget." He told her and she nodded as he kissed her temple affectionately before following Charlie, to wash his own hands.

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She didn't know why she thought she was brave enough to do this. Sitting in the police station had been okay, because Warren was there and he made her feel safe enough to talk about what had happened to her, but she had refused to let him in the examination room, her hospital gown didn't have a back to it, and even though she felt calmer with him around, he wasn't going to get to see her in nothing but her underwear.

"Hi Anna, I'm Dr. Franklin." A woman entered the room, her red hair pulled into a bun, and her dark brown eyes sparkling behind slim glasses.

"Hi." She felt like she was going to be sick.

"You don't have to be scared, I'm here to help." Dr. Franklin read her expression and tried her best to reassure her, but Anna wasn't exactly convinced.

"What are you going to do?" she asked and Dr. Franklin smiled at her.

"I am going to take some x-rays, look at your current bruises, your past medical charts and your current ones and I am going to match the injuries, to make sure your story checks out."

Anna felt a flame of indignation flare in her chest.

"You don't believe me?" her anger was obvious and Dr. Franklin smiled.

"Of course I do, but we have to be able to give the judge and the lawyers physical evidence so that they can prosecute, make it safe for you again."

Anna still wasn't convinced but she let Dr. Franklin do the exam.

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"Well?" Detective Ramirez asked as Dr. Franklin left the examination room for Anna to get dressed.

"She isn't lying, the broken arm matches up with the old and new x-rays along with the cracked skull, snapped collar bone, and fractured foot. Her bruises are consistent with the attack that she described to me, along with each attack that went along with each chart. She's defiantly been abused, I would say go ahead and prosecute."

Detective Ramirez nodded, feeling as though the brick on his chest had been lifted. He had instantly believed Anna's story even though he'd been taught to remain passive and let the evidence speak for itself, and he was so relieved that he hadn't been taken by a smart teenager looking for kicks.

Anna left the room, all her clothes back on and Warren was there waiting.

"Well?" he asked her, his hands jammed into his pockets.

"She said my story matches up, now we just have to go through with pressing charges." She shrugged, the nausea she had been feeling earlier easing somewhat.

"Oh thank God." Replied Warren, pulling his hands out so that he could hug her and hold her close.

"Yeah." She didn't sound so sure.

"You rethinking this?" he asked her, looking down at her but not letting go.

"A little, I could barely handle this, you had to drag me every where, I don't know if I could get up on the stand and tell everyone in that courtroom what he did to me for all those years."

"Yes you can." He said it with such conviction that she had to bury her face in his chest to hide her blush.

"How do you know?" she asked him.

"Because, you are the bravest person I have ever met in my life."

Her blush intensified, and she kept her face hidden, and he let her. He was prepared to hold her until she decided that she wanted to let go.

"Can we go home now?" she asked him quietly a few minutes later when her blush disappeared and he nodded.

"Sure, lets go." And he led her out of the hospital, back towards the house and a nice night of sleep.

"Hi, I'm Layla." The redhead standing above her made her a bit nervous. This was the redhead who saw her with Warren.

"Hi, Anna." She introduced herself.

"I know."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, uh, Warren told me. Listen, I just thought I should introduce myself, I mean since Warren and I are friends, I figured that if he liked you so much, we could be friends too."

She was a little cheery for Anna's taste, but she seemed to honestly just want to get to know Anna because she was important to Warren.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Layla."

Layla smiled wide and sat next to her at the lunch table, where she normally sat alone.

"It's nice to meet you too."

"Hippie, what are you doing?" Warren's shadow crossed over the table and Anna paled a bit.

"Just talking to Anna." Shrugged the tree-hugger as though her motives were innocent.

"Move." And he jerked his head. Layla glared at him but stood up and moved to the other side of the table, allowing Warren to sit next to Anna, making her relax.

"Hey Layla, Warren." Nodded a girl in purple as she sat down next to Layla and opened her milk.

"Hey, Magenta this is Anna, Anna, Magenta." Introduced Layla and Anna nodded in the punk girl's direction.

"Hi."

Magenta gave her a soft smile that she readily returned, feeling at ease around the newest girl.

"And this is Will, Zach and Ethan." Interrupted Layla.

Anna shrunk back into her chair as three more people joined them at the table and Warren placed a calming hand on her thigh.

"It's, uh, nice to meet you, I'm Anna." She said, remembering her manners and the three boys smiled, before chorusing their hellos.

Anna had never felt so at ease around so many people. She didn't know if she should attribute that to the fact that Warren's hand stayed on her thigh the entire half-hour or the fact that everyone at that table had readily accepted her. She was Warren's friend, therefore she was their friend and it was as simple as that.

She smiled and hummed to herself as she walked to her last class of the day, in a wonderful mood.

Warren watched her as she entered the room and smiled at the good mood she was in. He had worried that her meeting so many people at once would make her shrink back into herself. That she would become scared again, but she hadn't. She had accepted the people around her and had relaxed once he let her know that he was there. She'd opened up, talked to these people about classes and things like that, she'd laughed. A real laugh, not one that was forced.

"Hi." He murmured when she sat next to him and she smiled his favorite thousand-watt smile.

"Hi." She replied as he smiled back and she could see her entire world brighten.

She had fed Charlotte and read from her favorite book before sending her to bed; glad that her nightmares seemed to have disappeared since that night Warren had held them both. She was a little embarrassed that Warren still had to come in and hold her every once in a while, but she was so glad that Charlie seemed to be handling everything so well.

She sat on the couch and finished her homework, but she was finished much too early to be able to go to sleep, and she had already eaten. Warren and his mother were both at work at the Paper Lantern and she had no one to talk to. She was starting to get jumpy.

She put on her shoes and her jacket and headed out the door, taking care to double check on Charlotte, leave her a note in case she woke up and lock the door behind her, tucking the key into her jeans pocket.

She walked down the sidewalk, thinking to herself about all of the things she was going to have to do for her case, the questions and the preparing. She knew she shouldn't think about it, because it was going to really mess with her head, but she couldn't stop herself from thinking about it.

She was close to the Paper Lantern, right out in front of the various houses and other stores that surrounded it, in full view of the streetlights when she felt an arm grab her from the one dark alley on the street.

She screamed, but her mouth was quickly covered and her head was slammed against the brick wall to her right. She could see stars twinkle before her eyes and the scent of familiar cologne filled her senses before she finally succumbed to the dark that had been threatening to overwhelm her.

Okay, another chapter up! And I know that I am evil for leaving it here, but it's late and I have homework and I'm tired. So sorry this took so long, I had my Homecoming this weekend and got busy. Love you all, thanks for staying with me. You all rock out loud!

Love as Always

Andrew's Slinky


	9. Leaded Bodies, Defeat and Triumph

Since when had her entire body become lead? She couldn't move her arms or even open her eyelids, and her throat was burning. It was burning horribly and she could feel her self start to choke as the steady beeping somewhere next to her started to speed up considerably.

She felt air rush past her and then something was being pulled from her trachea and it burned even worse, ripping silent screams from her lungs.

When the burning and tugging stopped, her body still felt like lead but she could feel heat on her hand and she tried her best to open her eyes. She managed to flutter them open with great effort only to have to shut them again quickly to block out the bright light that branded her blue eyes.

"Anna?" the voice was familiar, deep and gruff but it soothed her frazzled nerves.

She tried her best to reply to the voice but her throat was too sore; she couldn't even squeak in reply so she just squeezed the warm hand encased in her own.

"Oh thank God." A new voice, more feminine, but also familiar to her.

Where was she? How had she gotten here? She remembered going to the Paper Lantern to visit Warren and his mother, leaving Charlotte in a locked house. Charlotte!

There was no telling how long she had been here, Charlotte might be in trouble, and she couldn't bear the thought. She ripped her eyes open, letting them water as they came in contact with the dazzling light reflecting off the white ceiling above her. She looked around wildly, hearing the beeping start to speed up again and somewhere in her foggy mind it registered that the sound was her heart.

"Calm down Anna, you're okay." She heard the whisper in her ear but the voice still sounded so far away even though she could feel the warm breath on her neck.

"Charlie." She managed to croak and she heard a soft chuckle.

"Charlie's fine, she just left with my mom to get a soda."

She finally registered the voice. It was Warren.

"Who?" she managed to croak again, her throat burning worse now that she was speaking, but she had so many questions that she wanted answered.

"Your father." Was the bitter reply and she could feel the tears well up and spill over her cheeks.

"I…" she trailed off and he squeezed her hand.

"Don't be mad at me, I didn't hurt him too badly." He murmured in her ear and she turned her head slowly to look at him, her neck muscles sore and a large bandage on her forehead.

"What did you do?" she let each word drop slowly and he looked even more guilty than before.

"I just lost it. He was hitting you again and I stopped him." He shrugged; looking away and she continued to stare at him, conflicting emotions running through her body.

She knew that she shouldn't be mad at him. He was just trying to help her, trying to save her from her father and she knew that her father was a bad man, but she still felt defensive of him. So now, there were two problems with the reasons she shouldn't be mad at the boy before her, holding her hand.

One: she did NOT need saving, she could take care of herself.

Two: she still loved her father and believed, deep inside, that he was a good man who had been dealt difficult cards.

And there were problems with why she should be mad at him.

One: she kind of liked being saved by him, it made her feel wanted and loved, something she hadn't felt since she was ten years old.

Two: her father was bad news; he had beaten her almost on a daily basis for seven years and made her life a living hell.

Sometimes she wished that she didn't have to deal with this, sometimes she just wished that she didn't exist at all. Sometimes she just wanted to die.

She could feel the sobs wrench through her body and for the first time in her life she truly let them go. Her tears fell hard and fast, not even grazing her cheeks before hitting the pillow, or Warren's covered arm.

Her anguished screams and words made no sense, but she didn't care. She just wanted to die. She couldn't take this anymore, she couldn't take being afraid all the damn time, she couldn't take being a mother to her sister, she couldn't take being strong anymore and she knew that in her father's eyes weakness was as good as death but she didn't care anymore. She was done. She was done caring about this, done caring about what happened to her or what happened to Charlotte. She was done caring. She couldn't breath when she thought of all the things that she had to do, all the things she had to take care of because she was the only one strong enough to take care of them.

Warren had been there for her, but she couldn't keep risking his life, which she knew she was. She was risking his and his mother's lives every time she entered their house, everytime she talked to him at school, everytime she thought about him, it was putting his life in danger because her father couldn't stand to be humiliated and now that Warren had beaten him back for the second time…there was going to be hell to pay.

She was scared for all of them.

"Anna?" he was scared too, she could hear it in his voice, but she wasn't worried about hurting his feelings anymore.

"I can't do this Warren."

"What are you talking about?" he didn't understand.

"I can't keep looking over my shoulder every time I leave the house, I can't keep looking down the street to make sure he isn't following me or Charlotte, I can't keep locking her in the house. She's seven years old for Christ's sake. She needs to be somewhere stable, with a real mom and a real dad, she needs to have a real family."

The two teenagers heard a sob from the doorway.

"But I wanna stay with you."

The tears and fear in that statement shook Anna to her very core and every thought of not caring, of giving up, left her mind immediately and she opened her leaded arms to her sister.

"You are going to stay with me, okay. I promise." Charlotte hugged her sister fiercely, and as much as it hurt her physically, Anna didn't let go.

"I don't want to go back with Daddy."

Anna held her tighter and kissed her blonde head.

"You are never going back with him, okay?"

She held onto her sister for all she was worth and as she looked over the top of her head to lock gazes with Warren she felt her stomach flutter. She was ready to fight back. Now that she had someone who was going to be behind her every step of the way.


	10. Trials and Endings

"He kicked me, and then all I remember is tumbling down the stairs, and then…nothing but black."

"And that's how you broke your collar bone?"

"Yes ma'am." Anna nodded, careful to be respectful to her lawyer, Miranda Giles.

"Anna, who did that to you?" Miranda had been coaching Anna for months now on how to answer, with the truth and only the truth.

"My father." Replied Anna quietly as she looked away. She couldn't bear how horrible it sounded, especially when she was forced to say it out loud.

"Thank you Anna, no further questions."

Anthony Taylor, the defense attorney for her father stood and buttoned the middle button of his suit jacket.

"Miss Serona."

"Anna." She was never going to use that name again.

"Very well, Anna, are you sure that he pushed you down the stairs, couldn't you have fallen?"

Anna paused for a moment and looked over at her father, who still had very visible burns on his body from Warren's attack three months prior and the sight made her smile to herself on the inside.

"Well, if I did fall, it's only because my father beat me so badly before that I couldn't keep my balance." Her words cut through the courtroom like a knife, shattering the perfect picture that she made.

She was wearing her church clothes. A simple, blue dress that covered her arms and hit just above the knee, black pumps on her feet and simple makeup. She looked like the girl next door but as she waged on in her many horror stories the pretty picture began to fall away and she had never felt so naked in her life.

"I see. Anna, do you love your father?"

She paused again before answering; she wasn't so sure she had an answer to that.

"I will never forgive him for what he did to me or my baby sister, but yes, a part of me still loves him."

"Then why are you doing this to him?"

"I'm not doing anything to him, he brought this on himself the day he started hitting me."

Her answer was cold and calculating and everyone could hear the drastic difference in her voice.

"Anna, just one last question. Is it possible that you are fabricating events to get some attention?"

She resisted the urge to slap him across his smug little face.

"No."

Her answer was short and simple, but one glance at the jury and she knew that she had convinced them.

"No further questions, your honor." Apparently, Mr. Taylor knew defeat.

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Anna had never been so nervous in all her life. She had been told that the jury might take a while to deliberate but it had been an hour already and she was starting to get nervous. What if they didn't believe her? What if they ignored the physical evidence and accept the sob story her father had told? That she wanted money he wouldn't give her. That she was doing this for attention, acting out because her mother was gone.

Warren squeezed her hand gently, watching as her knee bounced up and down in jitters. Some bruises still lingered on her lower extremities from her father kicking her in that alleyway, and she had physical therapy to get full range motion in her arm that had been pulled from its socket. She still had a cast on three of her fingers and her face was just now back to its original color and size.

"What if they don't think he's guilty?" she asked aloud, not really expecting an answer, she just needed to get the idea off her chest and out of her mind.

"They won't." replied Warren quickly, knowing if she thought about it for too long she would start to panic, and her lungs weren't strong enough for that.

"Anna?" it was Miranda Giles, "Honey, they're ready."

Anna nodded and stood on her own feet slowly. She smoothed out her skirt and walked towards the courtroom door and her lawyer with a confidence that she didn't feel, leaving Warren behind to pray.

She entered the courtroom and sat in the first row behind her lawyer, trembling like a leaf now that she was off her feet.

Miranda looked behind her and smiled reassuringly, but Anna couldn't banish the fear that threatened to overwhelm her. She wasn't sure what the jury had decided; it had taken them much longer to decide than she thought it should if they thought he was guilty.

"Has the jury reached a verdict?"

"We have your honor." Nodded the foreman, his gray hair receding.

Anna crossed her fingers in her lap and kept her head down, afraid to look at anyone.

"On the first count of the indictment, assault in the third degree, how do you find?"

"We find the defendant, Joshua Serona, guilty."

A breath escaped her lungs.

"On the second count of the indictment, attempted murder in the first degree, how do you find?"

"We find the defendant, guilty."

The rest of her breath, along with any feeling in her body, escaped. She sat there in her seat, limp as a rag doll, not quite believing what she had just heard. She was free. She and Charlotte were free to live their lives.

Of course the case had been in the paper and almost everyone in Maxville knew about what her father had done to her but she didn't care. She was free.

She slowly stood on shaky legs and shook Miranda's hand.

"Thank you so much."

"You are very welcome."

"What happens now?"

"The judge will sentence him to his jail time, and he will stay there for a very long time, I promise."

Anna nodded, a smile starting to spread its way across her face.

"You can go home now Anna, get some rest, and don't worry, your father won't be bothering you ever again."

Anna nodded again, her smile growing bigger and she started towards the door, once she reached it, she broke into a run. Warren stood a ways down the hall and turned to watch her as she came running towards him. He judged her smile and gave her one of his own as she launched herself into his arms.

He wrapped his muscular arms around her and picked her up off the ground, spinning her around, her feet tucked up.

"We did it Warren, we did it, guilty on both counts, I'm free!" her voice was strong, breathless, happy, scared and nervous all at the same time but he knew that she was going to be okay. He was going to be there after all.

"C'mon, we should go home, celebrate." He suggested, but she just kept hugging him. He smiled as he ran his fingers through her hair and kissed her temple.

"Home sounds good." She managed as she stepped back from his embrace and the pair of them left the courthouse, wide smiles on their faces that no one was going to be able to steal away.

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Anna and Charlotte had been free several months. Anna and Warren both graduated with high honors from Sky High, Anna becoming their class valedictorian.

Her speech was one for the history books.

"I myself have never felt beautiful, never felt loved or wanted. So I came here with a bleak attitude on life. A bleak attitude on everything, because I didn't believe that I was worth it. I didn't believe that I was worth the time to be made happy. But now I know differently. I know that I deserve a good life, and as long as it took me to get here, I made it. You can make it too. I know for some of us this day felt as though it would never come, but now that it is here, we wish we could go back, relive everything in the past couple of years, commit it all to memory again.

I know that life is supposed to go on, and that we are supposed to move on. And you should. Go on, mature, physically, emotionally, mentally, whatever way you need, but always remember that here is where it started. Here is where you learned that having powers doesn't make you a hero, that not having powers doesn't make you a sidekick and that combining the force of both saves the world.

Not all of you will get the chance to save the world. May all of you care enough to try. May you remember the past but don't be ruled by it. Let it shape you but not define who you are, and learn from it, so that your future is the best one for you.

May you keep in touch with your old friends, make new ones, and be able to keep them all. Survive the unsurvivable, love the unlovable, and wish on every star you see.

Congratulations, graduating class of 2000, may you inspire the world."

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Hey guys, that is it! The end! Yeah! I so love this story, and some of you may be disappointed that there wasn't an actual romantic relationship between Warren and Anna, but not to worry my lovelies, there is a sequel coming very soon, so keep your eyes out for it. The first chapter should be posted within the next week or so.

Thank you all for sticking with me, inspiring me with your ideas and laughing at my corny jokes. Understanding my foreshadowing and not being too put off by the fact that this is rather mature content that could upset quite a few people.

I love you all, stay with me through the sequel!

Andrew's Slinky


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